Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - A Hero's Rebirth
by Eric566
Summary: My first ever fanfic, so criticize and try to make me see how I can improve some parts of it. Eric is turned into a pokemon and he has lost all of his memories. A young , shy Eevee will become her partner in the many adventures that he will have. This story will stick to the argument of PMD 2, but on the way, we might learn a lot about Eric's dark past. Rated T for blood and swears
1. Prologue - The Darkest Storm

**Eric566 requesting for your attention here just for a moment. This is my first story in ever,(yes, i said in ever) so please bombard me with constructive criticism, because I really want to both improve as a writter and correct any silly mistakes in the story so you guys can enjoy it more. With that said,**  
**let the story begin...**

Prologue – The Darkest Storm

Grovyle was, for once in a long time cheerful and overall, just happy. Things had been coming up nicely lately: He and his partner had found the location of all the Time Gears, so the only thing that was left to do was to go back in time and stop the Planet's Paralysis. There was just one thing that worried him though, and it was that Dusknoir and his Sableyes hadn't been showing up recently, and made him uncomfortable. He didn't think he had given up so easily.

Right now he could be spying him, his partner and Celebi on their way to the Passage of Time. He wasn't scared though, he and his partner had fought Dusknoir many times in the past, if he showed up again, they would most likely beat him.

- Grovyle, dear, is there something that worries you? You haven't been talking since we set off to the Gate – Said Celebi who was at front, leading the party.

- Yeah Grovs, something wrong pal? - Said Eric, his human partner.

Grovyle just sighed at his friends remark on his behavior.

- Yeah, Dusknoir hasn't showed up to stop us, and we are getting pretty close to the Passage – Said Grovyle with a worried tone in his voice.

The pink pokemon giggled – Yes dear Grovyle, we are really close to the Passage. In fact, we are already here -

After a few more steps, the gang walked up to a clearing in the middle of the forest, in front of them, some kind of door made with arcs of blue light was waiting for them.

- This is it? - Said Eric. - I was expecting something much more... um... - Eric thought for a moment, thinking of the right word.

- Something much more what? Amazing? - Celebi told him while they approached the mysterious gate.

- Yeah, Amazing. I mean, it looks like some weird kind of light show that makes a door that goes into the mountain. Looks pretty stupid to me. - Said Eric, with a smile on his face.

Grovyle smirked at his partner, being as sassy as he always was, even in the most dire situations he would go ahead and make a joke, or mock his opponents in fights. To Grovyle, at first it looked like Eric didn't take anything seriously, but after working with him for a while, he noticed that he was as dedicated to the save world as much as Grovyle was, even more. His appearence did help at making him look serious: His black, curly hair was never covered by any kind of hat or headgear, he always whote the same black shirt with a weird desing of a human drawn in blue and red lines. Surrounded of what seemed to be buildings, drawn with the same lines, next to the human, there where some stairs wich lead to a cave, and there was a disc on top of the tunel entrance that said " Underground". He had some really weird dark blue pants, which at first don't seem very flexible, but he can surely fight well with them. He was also wearing dark shoes with green lines on them. But what called most of his attetion was his dark jacket that had white liners all over it. On the back they had the form of a star. He didn't now why, but that jacket was Eric's favourite cloth, he would always wear, even if they were at a volcano and it was really hot, he would always wear that jacket.

- Well, it looks stupid to you because you can't see it as I do, for me is one of the most powerful wonders of this world. - Said Celebi, now preparing the Gate.

- What ever you say, I mean, I know a lot of stuff about Time Travel and to be completely honest with you I hate it a lot. - Eric said, pulling out a hand watch of his jacket's inside pocket.

Grovyle had seen Eric pull out tons of stuff for that pocket, and he always wondered how he could be carrying around so much stuff inside of it. When he asked him, he would always answer "Magic" and the he would snort. Twice.

- Why do you hate Time Travel so much? I would like to know. - Asked Celebi curiously, while she was setting up the portal

- Way too complex and hard to understand, I mean, time traveling itself isn't that bad, especially if you only go to the future. but bad things come when you change the flow of time in the past, and then stuff get's screwed up. Then you have to go to the past again and fix whatever you did wrong... You know the drill. - Eric responded. He then put the hand watch back in his pocket.

- Well, if you look at it that way, then yes Eric, I would suppose that jumping between worlds is much easier than time traveling? Also the portal is almost ready. - Celebi answered sarcastically.

- Hey, hold the phone there. I travel between a lot of worlds, but let me tell you that I just let the flow take me wherever I need to go. Wherever there's trouble in w¡a world caused by forces outside of it I will most likely be there. - Eric said, raising his arms admitting defeat.

Celebi just smiled at Eric's explanation. - Whatever you say Eric, anyways, the portal is ready for you boys. I have activated it in such a way that it takes you long before the Planet's Paralysis happened. -

Grovyle and Eric looked at each other, understanding that this was the last stretch of their long voyage. Both stepped forward to the blue light door silhouette that was right now filled with light in the middle.

- Well Celebi, I guess this is a farewell then. Thank you for all of your help. - Grovyle said, stretching out a hand to Celebi.

- Oh Grovy, don't be silly. - Celebi flied up to his face and kissed him – If everything comes up well we might be able to reunite in the afterlife. - Grovyle then nodded. Celebi flied to where Eric was.

- You though... I don't think I will ever see you again. Am I right? - Eric shrugged.

- Well maybe not, maybe yes. I don't know, maybe I'll drop by to make you a visit. - Then he smirked.

Celebi flied to his hear and whispered to him. - In case you don't ever come back, do me a favor and look into time traveling, you lazy bum. - Then she flied away. - Good luck boys you are probably going to need it. -

And with that, Celebi disappeared.

- Well Grovs, should we get going? - Eric asked while walking into the portal.

- Right behind you pal . - Grovyle then walked into the portal and the gate closed. They didn't notice that not so far away, another entity that controlled time roared. But not a roar of rage, but a roar that meant that everything was going accord to plan.

* * *

Inside the Time vortex.

- This feels like a roller coaster! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! - Eric screamed his lungs out, he was having way to much fun to pay attention to Grovyle, who was spinning around like crazy. They were both sliding down some kind of ramp into a hole.

- How can you be having fun at a moment like this?! - Grovyle shouted, obviously getting sick of spinning so much. He closed his eyes wishing he could stop spinning...

And he did.

He suddenly opened his eyes to find himself and Eric in some kind of black space. He couldn't see anything. He didn't even know what he was standing on. He didn't even know if he was standing on something!

- What the... This place... Oh fuck! - Eric screamed. He shot up and stood on his feet. - Grovyle get ready we have company! - Eric then went into his fight stance.

What's wrong Eric? Not having so much fun now are you? - A voice in the darkness said.

- That voice... I knew it. So that's why Dusknoir didn't even try to attack us. He knew tthat we would try to time travel. Dialga knew. And you also knew... - A shadow starting forming in front of Eric.- Right, Darkrai? -

Darkrai fully materialized in front of Eric. He looked very menacing. - Yes Eric, It's just as you expect it is. Dialga knew you would try to time travel, as it was your only option to stop him. He thought about sending the incompetent of Dusknoir. But he has failed so much in trying to kill you both that he decided to go by himself. Then I decided to take his place and go for him. He kindly accepted and here I am. - Darkrai floated around Eric while he told him his story. - You know, it's funny that he hasn't noticed that's he's just a puppet following my strings... -

- Yeah, yeah, yeah what ever, I'm not gonna sit here and listen to your monologue. What Im going to do is I'm gonna beat your ass. I'm gonna go back in time. Save the world. And then I will go back to the future and destroy you before you corrupt Dialga again. Does it sound like a good plan? - He mocked Darkrai, who then laughed. - What's so funny about that? -

- Hahahahaha... There's two things that you haven't counted on Eric. For one, I can control time now, remember? - Darkrai said.

What?! Eric is that true?! - Grovyle said, completely shocked.

- Yes Grovyle. Because he has managed to corrupt Dialga he know has part of his powers, and so he can control time. But I had already though about that this would happen... - Grovyle looked at him surprised at Darkrai raised an eyebrow. - But... What were you talking about with two things? -

- Well, you see, Darkrai himself isn't clever enough to figure all this out, let alone Dialga... So it all comes dwon to one mastermind who is in reality behind all of this, my dear friend - Another voice said in the distant darkness. This one though, sounded awfully familiar to Eric, and he didn't like it being so familiar.

- No... - Eric tried to keep himself calm. - How did you... No way... I vanished you from this world! - Eric screamed looking around everywhere.

- You just vanished me from that reality, but not from this one. - Eric right now was freaking out - Another reality?! You mean this is a parallel world?! But... how?! There's just no way the spell couldn't have worked! There's no way...

Just then Grovyle saw something move behind Eric. - Behind you! -

Eric managed to turn around in time to see what his attackant was doing: he was leaping down on him with a sword.

- Shit! - Eric managed to jump back before the misterious figure sliced him in half. The figure who then turned out to be human smiled at Eric's reaction.

- Hello, Eric! No time no see! Hahahaha! - sad the other human. Eric was shoked after seeing the other human's face. He couldn't make out his face's outlines, but he could see how some kind of cae waved behind him, even though there was no wind. He had spiky hair, Grovyle couldn't figure out what color it was though. What he could see in the darkness though, was the dark blue color of his eyes, wich felt like where looking right in his soul when ever he saw them. On his right hand, was the sword that he tried to use to cut Eric in half.

- Eric who's this guy? - Grovyle asked

- This guy right in front of me is possibly the biggest mother fucker in all existance. Meet Tir, The self called lord of darkness. - Eric anwsered spitting out the words of his mouth.

- Ha! Look who's talking, the self claimed hero of light. What are you a comedian? Because you just make me laugh each time I try to kill you! - He said this while snapping his fingers, making another sword appear in his left hand.

Eric entered a fight estance and opened his right hand. Grovyle could observe how literally his friends hand combusted in flames while he threw a punch at Tir, who dodged it quickly and then dissapeared in the darkness. He had seen Eric use this habilities before. He said that it was part of his magic skills.

- Son of a... Stop hiding coward! - Eric then felt how something grabbed his foot. He looked down to see a hand emerging from the ground. - But I'm right here! - Tir's voice was heard everyhwere in the darkness. It felt like he had fused with it. The hand of the ground then turned rock solid and started crushing Eric's foot, who quickly stomped the hand with his other foot, making the hand break in pieces.

- Agh! - Tir screamed. Reapearing not so many meters away from Eric. - You are always so much of an annoyance Eric! - Grovylle coould see that his hand was no longer there.

Eric stepped backwards " I don't have time for his shit. We need to get to the past. Now!"

Eric backed up to where Grovyle was standing. - Look Tir I really just want to kill you right now, but I have a world to save and time for us is starting to run short. So im just gonna open a time gate if you don't mind...

- How's that so? What do you know that I don't? You were supposed to be bad at time travel! I heard you say it! - Darkrai was now furious: His plans could be potentially ruined by this.

- Idiot! He was lying to confuse you! - Tir said, making his sword appear out of this air and charging forwards to Eric, who quickly put up some kind of barrier between him and Tir. Tir tried to hit the barrier and break it... Only to have the barrier reflect his force at him, knocking him backwards.

- I knew you were listening to the conversation before, I felt your presence. And I have this! - Eric quickly pulled out the hand watch from his pocket.

- A watch? That's your plan? - Darkrai was confused. Tir though, looked at him with a face filled with hatred.

- Yes, a watch, but not a normal one at that. This is the Watch of Time. A watch with capability to stretch the strings of time and mold them to it's users liking. Watch this! - He then opened the watch and raised it over his head. He focused on the watch and canalized a spell that would create a portal to the past. The watch then glowed, it's hands and gears moving faster and faster. Soon both hands stopped and aimed at a place behind Eric, next to Grovyle. A hole of light made it's appearence as it literally scratched the darkness.

- Grovyle, get to the portal! Now! - Eric then rushed for it, as well as Grovyle who started running like crazy once he heard his companion.

- Oh no you wont! - Screamed, Tir who leaped over to the barrier that had been created between them and smashed right through it. Eric quickly put up another one right when Tir was about to strike. THe bnarrier received the hit before reflecting it's force to the attacker.

Eric got tired of waiting and pushed forward, wich made Tir loose his balance. "Now!" He quickly pulled his fist back and charged forward, hitting Tir and sengind him flying away in another direction.

- Ha! See you later sucker! - And started running to the portal.

But suddenly he felt something hit him in the back, something that at first sent him flying a few centimeters and knocked him on the got back on his feet and turned his head back to see Darkrai, who had most probably hit him with a dark pulse. Eric was just 2 meters away from the portal, so it didn't matter that much.

And then came the pain.

Eric's chest started hurting like had been stabbed by something, but it hadn't, he gasped as he couldn't even breath well and fell to his knees. The golden watch fell right next to him. He tried to grab it, but Darkrai cought up to him very quickly. He punched Eric in the face, wich stunned him long enough so Darkrai could pick up the watch.

-Ummmm... I wonder what happens if I break the watch... Maybe your portal closes! - Said Darkrai.

Eric was horrified at what Darkrai just said. The watch the most fragile tool in his arsenal, and it was like that for a good reason. If the watch was held in the wrong hands it could bring chaos to the world. Becuase of this, it was fairly easy to break it. But Eric just didn't know what would happen if he broke it while a time rift was opened. Probably the end of the world. - Darkrai... No! - He tried to warn him.

And then he crushed the watch in his hand. Guess he was about to figure it out...

When Grovyle noticed what was happening he grabbed his friend and dragged him into the portal. Not long before Darkrai rushed behind them and entered the hole. They where now falling, being surrounded by a blinding light that didn't let them see anything. Eric was still screaming of the pain that his chest was causing him and trying to hold on to Grovyle's hand. Shortly after, Tir jumped through the portal and leaped upon them. Darkrai, who was trying to grab to one of Grovyle's feet finally lost grip of it as Tir told him to follow him after he opened another hole, this one was black, and went through it. After they both crossed the portal, it closed behind them. It was only Eric and Grovyle spinning around. Eric didn't even know what was going on around him, he was in a world of pain and light. One thing he was sure about, is that he wasn't going to make it out of there alive. Suddenly everything faded to darkness again. This time though, lightning strikes broke the impenetrable darkness. It felt like they in the middle of a storm of chaos and both Eric and Grovyle started feeling like they were being pulled from every side.

- Whoa! Wh-wh-whoa...! - Grovyle shouted, barely holding Eric's hand, who was still suffering from the pain in his chest. Now he felt like he was on fire. - Are... Are you ok?! -

- Can't... hold... much...let..go... - Eric tried to speak, but he was heavily panting. What was happening to him? He had been lit on fire countless times and it hadn't hurt this much... - Agh!... Save.. self... -

Grovyle tried to hold him as hard s he could, they were both getting pulled more violently than before. - No! Don't let go! Just a little longer... - Grovyle put all his will and strength in grabbing Eric's hand – Come on! Hang on! - Grovyle felt like he was about to be thrown away by the misterious force.

N-n-no! I can't... hold... on...! - Grovyle felt Eric's hand slipping. Eric slowly put his hand in his jacket and brought out a piece of paper. - Grab...it... - Grovyle picked up the paper with his other hand. - You don't need... me... save the.. world! -

- Eric! - Eric's hand started slipping form Grovyle's hand. Now he could hear thunder strikes. The shaking was at it's peak, it felt like he was about to throw up...

- Goodbye... Pal... - Said Eric with the last of his strength.

And then he let go of Grovyle's hand.

- No! - Grovyle screamed before a lightning stroke between his vision of Eric and was blinded, from there he went up, down,left,right... In all ways in what seemed to be an endless cyclone of chaos. He then stopped suddenly. He opened his eyes to see that he was in the middle of a forest. It was raining.

* * *

Somewhere in the past.

A pokemon was trying to shelter herself from the lightning strikes of the storm. Even though she was inside her "house" covered by a ceiling, lightning strikes scared her a lot, and at the same time, she couldn't look away when she was one. And it was on one particular lightning strike when she saw it. She saw something falling down from the sky. She cold have never seen it if it wasn't because the lightning strike showed it's silhouette. And then it fell into the sea bellow. That one single lightning strike, was the only one that hadn't scared her.

* * *

Eric was boiling hot. And he felt like he was falling. He tried to open his eyes, but moving his eyelids just hurt too much for him. He felt like his skin was burning, his bones where melting, and his mind could only process the pain he was experiencing.

Suddenly, he hit something, something cold, something that surrounded him instantly, something that weighted more and more, something that dragged him further what he thought was down.

He tried to breath, but when he opened his mouth a liquid rushed it's way into hiw mouth, flooding his lung and making him unable to breath. His chest began to hurt even more than before, a sensation of anguish filling his mind. He tried to open his eyes, but couldn't, as these started to burn the moment he did. He could feel himself driffting away, slowly loosing consciousness, before he gave in to the darkness.

To be continued...

**So? Did you enjoy it? I hope you did!**

**Anyways what I was going to say is that if you are a bit confised on to who the freak is Tir and what relation he has with Eric, well, you just wait and see. The only thing you need to know right now is that they want to see each other dead and they can use magic, wich you will probably be seeing much later on the story. Maybe not so late, we'll see...**

**Next chapter will probably be up really soon, so stay tuned!**


	2. Chapter 1 - Rude Awakening

Eric566 requesting et again a little more of your attention. Because my writting is program is being really wonky it may have messed up the speech labels, which I hadn't noticed before. If this problem results annoying for the reader then feel free to say it and I will see how to fix it. For now, the dialog will start when you see this simbol (-) and it will end when you see it again. Characters thoughts will be enclosed by this simbols ("). That is all for now.

Chapter 1 – Rude awakening.

He felt his head pounding. He couldn't even think straight. The only thing he could do was listen to the sound of the waves splashing. He could feel water splashing around him. He tried to open his eyes. He could barely see, but he could distinct a few rocks not so far of where he was. He tried to remember how to move. First moving one arm then the other. He got to the rocky area that he had seen before and flipped him self over, looking at the sky. He saw something shining in the air, and the rest was all blue. Was that water? He didn't know. He felt lightheaded again. He tried to flip around and get up, but he couldn't manage to stand on his knees before the darkness took him away again.

* * *

Jigglytuff's Guild

- Okay come on, you can do this Eevee, you can do this. You just have to stand on there, after that everything will be just fine... - The pokemon waled up to a grate that was covering up a hole in the ground. She had barely stepped on it before she heard the same shouts.

- Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected! - Said a voice under the grate. - Whose footprint is it? Whose footprint is it? - Said another voice, that boomed through the hole. Eevee was shivering of fear at that moment. - The footprint is Eevee's! The footprint is Eevee's! - At that moment Eevee jumped out of the grate shaking a lot.

- Shoot, I didn't do it today either... - She was disappointed. - And just as I thought that my amulet stone would help me to be brave... - She looked down at her pendant and touched the little stone that was hanging from it. - Maybe I should just give up... I don't even ave a partner... - And with that, she walked away. She didn't even notice that 2 pokemon had been observing her.

- Hey, Zubat. Did you see the stone that brat was holding? - He looked to his friend.

- Yeah, what about in Koffing? - Said Zubat

- That thing looked valuable, let's nab it! - Said Koffing, who started following the pokemon who had just left.

- Hey wait Koffing! - And then Zubat followed his wicked companion.

* * *

Beach

As soon as Eevee arrived at the beach the Krabbies had started blowing bubbles, and the air was filled with them.

- Wow! I think I arrive just in time for the view! - Eevee approached the beach and looked at the sun.

Whenever the Krabbies started making bubbles and it was afternoon the view that resulted in the two things combined was beautiful, it gave her all of her will back. And it always made her happy.

Whenever she was down, she would just go there and admire the sight.

She stood there for a few seconds before she noticed something on the beach.

It was blue and black from where she could see, but she didn't know what it was.

"What's that? The sea washed up something on the beach!" Eevee then approached the mysterious object, and the closer she got to it, the more it resembled a pokemon. "Oh my gosh there''s someone lying unconscious on the beach!" She ran up to the pokemon and tried to wake him up.

"Eric... Eric... Human..." That's the only 2 words that lingered around the unconscious pokemon. What did they mean? Eric sounded like a name. But whose name was it? Was it his? He would suppose so, he was the only thing he had very clear. But... what did human mean? Then an imgae of a creature that was standing at 2 feet came to his mind. "That's a human?" Was he a human? The thought struck him. "Maybe I am Eric the human" Yeah, that sounded right. What also sounded was the distant voice of someone, far away.

- He... are... y... OK...? - The words were echoing in his mind. He heard the voice again, this time with much more clarity. - Hello? Are you alright? - After that he tried to open his eyes. As he did he first saw the now orange sky. Looking to his left was a tall rock and looking to his right was some kind brown fox like creature. He sat up on the sand slowly. - Thank goodness you are OK! - The weird fox like thing said.

He looked at it. - Yeah, you could say that... um... - He then realized that he was talking to a talking fox. He processed the scene for a second. "Ummmmmmmmm... I don't think foxes are supposed to talk... So... what the hell is going on here?"

- Hey, are you there? - The fox asked again. - I told you, my name is Eevee, nice to meet you. What's your name? - Eric looked at her

- You talking to me? In that case, my name is Eric the Human. Pleased to meet you. - "I guess..."

- Eric the human? What do you mean? That's your name? Eric the Human? - She looked at him while raising an eyebrow.

- No no no, My name is Eric and I'm a human! I mean look at me! - He then pointed at his own body.

- Ummm, sorry but you look like a completely normal Riolu to me. You don't like a human in the slightest. - Eevee looked at him from up to down.

Eric looked at himself: Paws at the end of his arms and legs, he wasn't wearing any kind of clothes, he had long black ears and looking behind him he even had a little tail. "Oh snap! I really am a Riolu! But... Why did it sounds so familiar to me that I was a human? And how do I know what a Riolu looks like anyways?"

- You know, you are a little weird for being a Riolu. Are you sure that you think you were a human? - Just then Eevee was pushed forward and fell on top of Eric who caught her, but he lost his balance and they both fell on the ground.

When Eric wanted to notice it both him and Eevee where on the ground in a pretty awkward position. They looked at each other for a second before he noticed that Eevee was blushing. She moved away from him and Eric got back up, not long until he noticed two pokemon in front of him, probably the ones that had attacked them. One of them looked like a bat, and the other one was some kind of floating ball that smelled really badly.

- Well I'm sorry for that. - Said the weird floating stone with a sarcastic thone and a wicked smile on his face.

- Eevee looked at them. - Hey what was that all about?! Couldn't you see that we were talking?! - Eevee was clearly annoyed, but she actually sounded really embarrassed.

- Shut up, brat. - The bat thing quickly replied, looking all over the ground until he found something. He picked it up from the sand, it looked like some kind of small stone. - Hey Koffing, is this it? - The ball of gas, who Eric assumed was Koffing nodded.

Eevee gasped when she recognized that stone. - Wait, that's my Relic Stone, give it back! - Eevee leaped forwards to the bat, but he just put the rock on his neck and fled up in the air. - Nope. We are going to take it. It's ours now, and we are not giving in back! - They both started laughing after that.

Eevee tried to reach the bat. - Hey Koffing, catch! - The bat threw the stone, and the weird floating ball caught it with his body. - Got it Zubat! - Eevee rushed to Koffing, but he hen threw the stone back at Zubat.

Eevee's eyes started too tear up. - Noooo. Give it back! - Both Koffing and Zubat just laughed while they floated in Eric's direction and past him. - And who's gonna make us anyways? You? You are just a coward! - Said the bat, who then started laughing yet again. They then entered a cave on the side of the beach and disappeared from Eric and Eevee's sight.

Eric had just been watching the whole scene in awe. First, talking fox who calls her self Eevee, then two weird animals that look like a bat and some kind of floating rock steal something from her, and to top it all he's turned into some kind of weird creature called a Riolu."What the hell is going on?!"

He stopped thinking about all of these things when she heard Eevee cry. She was facing the ground, with her front paws covering her face. Eric approached the fox thing. - What's wrong, they just stole a stone. Was it something important for you? - Eevee raised her head and looked at Eric, streams of tears coming down from her eyes. The scene was almost heartbreaking. She then nodded.

- That was my stone relic. It's some kind of good luck charm for me and I've had it since I was a child – She said between sobs. -I was carrying it today, and now those guys... those guys... - And then she started crying again.

Eric just couldn't bear it for two reasons. For one, the poor Eevee was probably hopeless right now of getting her amulet back, and two...

Those guys had stolen her right in front of his face.

And that was something that made him really angry.

- Hey... Eevee was it? - He said. She looked up to his face and nodded. - Let's go get that stone back! -

Eevee stopped crying for a second. - Will you really help me get my Relic Stone back? - Eric just looked at her and smiled. - Of course i will! What kind of heartless would I be to not helpp someone when he needs help? - Aside from an explorer team, that was the first time Eevee had heard that phrase coming from a pokemon.

- Then let's go!. - She shouted And then she rushed into the cave the two wicked companions had gone into, soon followed by Eric.

* * *

Beach Cave

Eric and Eevee entered the Beach Cave with haste and rushed to the deepest part of it. On the way they had found a couple creatures that tried to stop them. At first Eric was confused. But then Eevee explained to him that the pokemon inside that cave where evil.

- Well ain't that just great! - He said while he punched a Shellos and knocking him to the wall, effectively making it unconscious. - I get the feeling that we are getting really close to those guys -

He said while smelling the air.

- How can you tell? - Asked Eevee, who had tackled another enemy. She then smelled the air. It smelled like something rotten. - Oh yeah! That... - Then she laughed a little bit.

After a few more minutes they arrived to a dead end. Eric stood still for a bit and heard someone talk. - How much do you think it's worth? - Said one voice, who sounded pretty familiar.

- I dunno, maybe 1000 poke? 500? Maybe this thing could make us rich! - said a different voice. Eric approached the place where the voices where coming and saw the bat and the foul smelling sphere.

- So here they are... - Eric crouched behind the rock. - Alright Eevee we need to figure out a plan for this, because if we are not careful enough we could get knocked out... - He then noticed that the fox, who had been with him seconds ago wasn't there anymore.

- Hey, you two! - Said Eevee who was slowly approaching the wicked duo from behind. - Give me back my Relic Stone! - They turned around. - Well, well, well... What do we have here? The little brat has decided to be brave for once? Not only are you a coward but an idiot! - Said Zubat, who then proceeded to laugh. Koffing then continued.

- I mean, you came down all they from the beach to his cave just to fight us? Haven't you noticed that we are two against one? You are clearly outmatched! - Said Koffing who was still holding the Relic Stone.

Eric picked up a stone and came out of his hiding place. - I wouldn't be that sure that she's alone! -

Eric walked up to where Eevee was.

Koffing and Zubat stared at him. - Hey, you were the loser that was lying down on the beach with her! What are you doing here this has nothing to do with you! - This time Eric was the one to laugh.

- Really? This has nothing to do with me? Oh OK, so next time you steal someone right in front of me think it twice, because then it is going to become my problem. Also, what's your deal with her? - He asked, holding the stone in his hand, if he was lucky they wouldn't notice it.

- Well we saw her with that thing before, which looked really valuable, so we decided to steal it and then sell it to someone for some good money. Also, why do you want to help her? What are you, her boyfriend? - They both laughed hard at this quote.

Eric looked at Eevee and gave her a face of, "I don't even know what he is talking about", and then made circles with my paw around his head, saying that those guys were out of their minds. She giggled.

- Well anyways, I don't think that matters now. What matters is that you should give her that Stone back. Right now. - Both of them stared at him. They then laughed again.

- Oh I'm soo scared, did you hear that Zubat? He's gonna make us give the stone back. What are we going to do? - He said while shaking trying to mock Eric – This punk and his girlfriend are going to beat us! - He then started laughing, soon followed by Zubat.

But suddenly Zubat stopped laughing, he fell to the ground right in front of Koffing, who saw a rock fall near his unconscious companion. - What the...! - He looked at the other duo to see that Eric had another stone ready to throw, directly at his face. Koffing moved around and when Eric threw the stone he missed.

Zubat was already knocked out and Koffing was not expecting such a reaction coming from a punk like that. - You are going to pay for that one you insolent brat! - He then liberated a cloud of smoke that enveloped Eric. Eric was then surrounded by one of the most disgusting smells ever. He almost fell flat on the floor if it hadn't been because he moved away from the cloud fast enough.

Eevee was already moving towards the gas producing ball, while Eric had picked u another stone and thrown it at the enemy, yet again missing, but leaving enough room for Eevee to tackle him to a rock. After hitting the rock face on, the pendant fell to the ground ad Eevee hurried to pick it up. As soon as she had it. She backed away to where Eric was.

- Yes! Good job! - Exclaimed Eric, who was watching Zubat who had already started getting up again. Both Koffing and Zubat felt like their heads where about to explode. They both teamed up again.

- Ow ow ow... My head... - Whined Zubat. - You what Koffing, I don't think that stone is worth going through all this trouble. -

- You know what, you are right. I don't think it's worth much at all. Keep it you want then! - Koffing said looking at Eric and Eevee. - Let's hit it Zubat! - And then they both started running outside of the cave.

- Ha! Who are the cowards now?! You are! Haha! - Eric exclaimed while he was jumping around and cheering their victory over those baddies.

- Let's go back to the beach now – Eevee said with a smile of happiness on her face, making a huge contrast to how she was just a few minutes ago.

* * *

Beach

- Thank you so much for helping me Eric, I could have never gotten my Stone Relic back without you. - Said Eevee, who was happily hoping around.

- Nah, it's okay. I did what I had to, no big deal. Now that I think about it, what's so special about that stone? - He said pointing at the pendant on Eevee's neck.

- My Stone Relic? Well... - She removed the necklace from her neck and put it on the ground. - At first look it doesn't seem that impressive, but if you take a closer look... - They both approached the stone. When Eric analyzed it form a near distance he noticed a strange pattern on the rock. - You see that strange pattern? -

- Yeah. I do. What does it mean? - Eric was still looking at it. Something about he pattern was... odd.

- Well, I don't know! I found this stone when I was small and since then it has been my good luck charm. I have always carried it around with me. But the pattern on it is really mysterious and since I found I have always thought that this stone keeps an amazing secret, and my dream is to find out the secret that it hides. Because of this I wanted to join an exploration team. Today I went to the guild to register me into a team but... I'm just too scared and I can't do it alone... What about you? Are you part of an exploration team? You were a really good fighter back there... -

"What is she even talking about? Exploration teams? Guilds? What? Where am I even at? I don't understand!" If he didn't ask her any of those questions he never have a good idea of what to do.

- Emm, I'm sorry but... I have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about. - Said Eric. Eevee looked at him raising an eyebrow.

- What do you mean you don't have any idea of what I am talking about? - Eevee was confused. "What is wrong with him?"

- Well... For starters I thought I was a human and then I happen to be a Riolu. Then you start talking about exploration teams and guilds which I honestly have no idea of what they are. I don't even know what I am doing here or where I am and to top it all you are a talking fox. And just now we met a talking bat and a floating rock which smelled really bad and could talk too. At this point I honestly don't know what the hell is going on. -

Eevee was shocked. - What do you mean with all of that? You mean that you don't know what you are, or what types of pokemon there are? - Eevee asked him, with a worried tone in her voice.

- I... I.. don't... remember anything. - Eric stated.

Eevee's jaw dropped and almost hit the ground. "Oh, my gosh. He has amnesia" - Eric do you seriously not remember anything. What you are?. - Eric shook his head. - What you are doing here? -Eric shook his head again.

- You don't remember anything. - Eric affirmed with his head.

Well the only thing I remember is that my name is Eric and that I was a human... - Eric said. Then he saw Eevee running back and forth in the same spot. - What's wrong? -

"Oh no no no no no no no..." - This is bad... If you seriously don't remember anything it means that you have amnesia. - Eevee said. - Which means that you absolutely don't remember anything at all. You family... Your friends... Nothing. And you don't even know where to go right? - Eevee was really stressed out.

- Oh... No... Then what am I going to do? Where am I going to go? I don't even think I am from this place...

No you are not.. And that's the problem... - Eevee said, now really worried of what would happen to Eric.

To be Continued...


	3. Chapter 2 - Worst Alarm Clock

**I have returned from the dead to give the living... Another chapter. Sorry for taking so long. I had a vacation while I was writing this chapter and when I returned I had a lot more different ideas that I needed to rewrite this one at least 3 times. Also, chapters 2 and 3 were written in one go, but I decided to split them up because the whole thing was 10000 words long. So... yeah. Long story short, sorry for taking so long. Chapter 4 will be uploaded tomorrow. (Maybe...)**

Chapter 2 – Worst Alarm Clock

_It was late night. Eric sneezed. It was really cold, as such, he was shivering. He moved around a little bit, trying to get in a more comfortable position to sleep. He closed his eyes one again. And fell into the realm of dreams once again._

_And then he heard the screams._

_Eric shot up from he bed. He didn't even know if that was a dream or not. It was now colder than before. He opened his eyes and looked around. Then he noticed something was wrong._

_He was in a completely different room than when he went to sleep. He noticed that there was a door_

_that was barely opened. He got down from his bed and walked to the door. The handle of the door was slightly over his head, so it wasn't hard for him to reach it. He the twisted the handle at the door opened._

_He walked outside the room. He found him self in a hallway. At the end of the hallway there were stairs and a blue light was coming from down there. Eric felt like his feet were getting closer to said staircase. The closer he got, the colder it got, and the louder the screams got. He could distinct some words between the screams. He could hear a female voice and two other voices. One of them sounded warm and familiar to him, while when the other voice was heard Eric had the feeling that he was freezing._

_- You leave her alone! Or I swear I will destroy all of you! - Said the warm voice. He then screamed something weird. The light of the stairs changed from blue to red, and the air got warmer for a second before the chilling voice once again screamed antoher weird word. This one Eric could hear clearly. - Duratus Flamma! - The light once again changed from red to blue, everything got colder once again and the warm voice screamed in agony. The female voice screamed yet more weird words. - Liquefaciet! Sana! - Red and green lights alterned themselves down stairs._

_Eric got to the stairs and looked down. The stairs led to a big room where there were three people, one of them was a woman with long brown hair that was wearing some kind of dress, next to her, a tall man with a pyjama on. In front of them there was another figure. This one was wearing what seemed a crown, he was very thin._

_The thin man talked. - Fools. You may have beaten every single shadow lord up to now. But our master was found much stronger substitutes. I am one of them, and you will never be able to kill me. - The thin man looked like he knew the other two and was explaining them something. - Now, tell me. Where is the child! -_

_- Combustione! - The man in pyjamas shouted. He thin man was soon lit on fire. He screamed once again "Duratus Flamma!", blue fire surrounding the red one and over time, putting it out. Eric wanted to see who that man was. He was so... familiar..._

_He stepped on one of the steps of the stairs, which made a loud cracking noise. The thin man, who was burning alive turned to the stairs, where he was Eric. He then smirked. The woman and the man that where in the room looked to where Eric was, both of their faces showed that they were horrified. - Eric! No! Run! - They screamed. The thin man started to run up the stairs. Eric decided to do what the two figures had told him and tried to run back to his room. When he got to the door and tried to open it the thin man behind him screamed. - Glacies! - And the door was soon covered by ice. Eric turned around, now cornered by the thin man, who was slowly approaching him. He noticed that he had a pickaxe on his hand. The thin man raised his the pickaxe over his and swoop it down on Eric's head. Eric's world slowed down as the pickaxe came closer to his head and he heard the voices calling his name once again, before his world fell in darkness..._

Wigglytuff's Guild

- Wake up rookies! Or you are going to be late! - Shouted a voice. Both Eevee and Eric were woken up by the sudden outburst of Loudred, but because they had been woken up so fast, it took them a few seconds to locate them selves. In that time, Loudred left, simply yelling at them – Fine then! Be late if you want! I will not help you if the guild master gets mad at you! -

Eevee was the first one to react. - Ugh... Good morning Eric... - Her head felt it had been hit by a boulder. Eric tried to sit up on his nest. - Yeah, hi... What was that all about? - Barely even talking as he had been woken up after having a nightmare.

- I don't know... He was talking about some guild master or something... - The the thought stroke her. - Oh snap! We joined the guild yesterday! We are going to be late for our first day! Hurry up Eric! - And with that she shot up and ran out of the room, soon followed by Eric, who was still half asleep.

* * *

Eric and Eevee arrived just in time to where everyone at the guild were meeting up. Just as the filled their spots, Loudred shouted at them – You are late rookies! - Chatot quickly quarrelled him. - Loudred! Keep it down! - The only thing Loudred could do was to stay silent. Then Chatot proceeded to talk about the rules of the guild, like they always did every morning, as a reminder to everyone. Eric just sighed. Even before they joined the guild he knew that it was going to be a pretty wacky experience...

Yesterday, after they had been talking for a bit on the beach. Eevee asked Eric if he wanted to make an Exploration Team with her. Having nothing else to do, and not knowing where to go, he accepted.

They then went to the guild entrance, to find it wide open. From what Eevee told him, they had to step on the grate, but since the door was open maybe it something was wrong. They decided to check it out. They entered the weird tent like building. It looked like some creature's head, probably a pokemon. There were some kind of stairs that led underground.

When they tried to go down the stairs, the ground started shaking. It wasn't an earthquake, it was more like something was bouncing up and down on the ground. They looked outside the tent to see a large mob of pokemon running their way. They were all shouting their way. Even though it was a lot f them, Eric could hear the words "Intruders!" coming from them.

Eric and Eevee, both startled by this sudden reaction, tried to back away, but fell down the weird wooden stairs. They tumbled down the steps until the hit the ground. Luckily neither of them blacked out or broke anything, but it hurt like hell. Moments later the pokemon caught them and brought them to another room. A pink pokemon who presented himself as Wigglytuff asked them why they were there. Eevee spoke for both of them and said they wanted to join the guild as apprentices.

Wigglytuff nodded and registered them as team Pokepals ( a suggestion from Eevee, must say a pretty ridiculous name ), and then Chatot led them to their bedroom, which... they had to share. It was really uncomfortable havnig to share the bedroom with someone of the opposite gender, at least that's how Eric felt. After a bit of a chat, they both fell asleep.

"And then I had that nightmare..." He thought. That dream had taken all of the night, but to him it felt like he had slept a few minutes. If he had another of those nightmares he sure wasn't going to sleep again.

- Eric... Are you there Eric? - Eevee was calling him, as he had drifted off in his thoughts while remembering what had happened yesterday. - Mmhh? Oh, yeah what is it? - He said.

Eevee giggled. - I guess you were day dreaming too... Anyways, look! - She then pointed in front of them, where Jigglytuff was standing. - Yeah, that's Jiggly, what about him? - He said. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was snoring. "Oh, now way..." - Is he...? Really?! Really now?! - He tried to be as quiet as possible, it wasn't necessary thought as the others pokemon were pretty much saying what they thought about what was happening, after all, being the leader of the guild and he was literally day dreaming in front of everyone.

- Well that's embarrassing... - He said. It was a pretty funny scene, but he had kinda been in the same position a few seconds ago, so he decided to keep quiet about it.

- Uhhh... Thanks for you inspiring words Guildmaster... - He then turned to everyone in the guild. - OK pokemon, let's hear that chant! - Eric and Eevee looked at each other. - Uhhh...

- What now? - Eric was pretty confused, but no one heard him as the pokemon proceeded to chant their song... theme... whatever it was. Eric wasn't sure about it anyway.

- One! Don't shirk work! Two! Run away and pay! Three! Smiles go for miles! - Everyone at the guild shouted. - OK, pokemon! Get to work! - After that, everyone was dismissed and they returned to their usual chores. Eric didn't believe what just happened. - Whazzat? ...? What just... Happened? What was that all about? - He looked at Eevee, who merely shrugged.

- Hey, you two! – Chatot called them. They turned to him. - Come with me, I need to teach you how to do your work. - And with that he wet up the stairs. Eric and Eevee decided to just follow him and don't ask any questions.

They followed him to the next floor, where there here were two boards. Chatot was awaiting them on the left one. - You are only beginners, so I guess you will start with a simple assignment. This is the Job list Bulletin Board. Pokemon from different regions let their job requests here. Let's look for an easy one for you... - If Eric didn't ask Chatot now, then when else? - Ummm... Chatot, Can I ask you a question? - Chatot turned to him. - Yeah? What is it? -

- It's about the chant just now. Do we have to learn it? - Chatot laughed at Eric's question. - Well of course! That chant is one of the many glories of this guild! You will have to sing it each morning while you are here. So you better learn it quick! - Then he returned to his job searching. "Oh boy... If we have to earn that whole chant then this going to be a different experience of what I thought..."

- Ah! Here's an easy one! Here read it! - Chatot handed Eevee a piece of paper. I walked up to her side and tried to read what the paper said:

_Hello! My name is Chimchar, and a friend of mine got an item lost in a dungeon not so long ago. He went to retrieve the item, but it's been 3 days and he hasn't returned. I'm a bit worried that something may have happened to him. Could you go check on him please?_

_P.S Please, bring your best exploration team._

_Chimchar._

- Whoa, a rescue? Is that what we are going to do today? Our first mission is a rescue? - Eevee asked intrigues by Chatot's choice.

- Yes Eevee. Your mission will be a rescue, which takes place in a dungeon called Drenched Bluff, a mystery dungeon located on a cliff. It's pretty much a cave under a hill, so you won't be going too deep underground. The pokemon in it are weaklings, so you shouldn't have way to many problems. The place is perfect for rookies to train, so that's why I chose it. - Chatot explained. Eevee seemed to be a little discontent though.

- You should get on your way now. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll finish. - Chatot said, before going back down the ladder. Eevee saved the piece of paper in the treasure bag and became the cheerful pokemon she always is. - Come on Eric! This is our first mission and it's a rescue! Let's do the best we can! - Eric nodded. - Yeah! -

And with that, they headed to their first mission as an exploration team.

* * *

Drenched Bluff

- So... This is it? This is Drenched Bluff? - Eric was looking pretty much at a little hole in the side of a mountain, the whole area around it was splattered with mud. Eevee took out the wonder map. - Well according to the map, yes, this should be it! Where you expecting something else? - Eric shook his head while looking around the entrance.

- No, is not that. The thing that confuses me is to why would a pokemon want to go inside a hole like this. It doesn't look like a good place to hang around that's for sure. Specially if you have aggressive pokemon all around the place. - He said, making his point clear.

- Yeah, I know what you are saying, but I don't think that is going to matter the slightest in this mission, as our client s already in there. - She said, putting the wonder map back in the treasure bag.

- Yeah, you're right. Chatot said that this mission should be a piece of cake, so let's get on with it already! - Eric then walked into the cave, Eevee following him from just some steps behind.

As soon as they were inside, Eric was expecting some kind of Pokemon to attack them. They walked for 5 minutes straight and didn't find any traces of pokemon inside the cave. Ten minutes in and still nothing. "Weird. There's no pokemon around. This can' be good."

- Is something wrong? You look worried. - Eevee asked Eric. - Yeah, there's no pokemon around here and we've been inside here for 10 minutes straight. Also, it's getting pretty dark isn't it?- Eric answered.

Eric was right. The fact that no pokemon had showed up was pretty weird. It didn't seem like something that they should worry about. If there were no pokemon their mission would be easier. Also, the fact that it was getting darker the deeper they went into the cave was completely normal.

- Yes, it's weird. Let's just keep an eye out for anything suspicious. - Eric nodded and they proceeded to go deeper into the cave.

A good twenty minutes passed before they found their first pokemon. It was trying to hide in a shady corner, and it was shaking of fear. At this point, Eric knew that there was something definetly wrong going on there. But he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Ten minutes after finding that pokemon and there were still no signs of hostile pokemon near. What was going on in there?! It was actually getting pretty boring as well. Eric and Eevee started talking about their first impressions of the guild. Eventually, the topic got to what they had dreamt about last night.

- Sooo... how did you sleep yesterday? Did you have a nice dream? - Eevee asked. Eric frowned for a second, thinking if he should tell her about his strange nightmare. If he told her she could think that he was crazy, and he didn't want to worry her or make her think that.- Well... My dream was about... I can't remember well, but I think it was about beating those jerks asses again. Remember? Koffing and Zubat? - Eevee looked at him. - Of course I do, I would never forget those jerks who stole my Stone Relic... I can't still thank you enough for helping me. -

- And you? What did you dream about Eevee? - She looked at him. She appeared to be nervous. - Me? Well... I dreamed that we discovered what my... Stone Relic was for. It was really... exciting. - Eric looked at her. The way she was talking, and how nervous she was. - What did the stone relic do? I'm interested. - Eevee looked even more nervous than before. - I... Uh... Don't remember. The dream was pretty blurry, I can't remember well... - It was obvious for him. She was lying about her dream. Whatever she had dreamed about she didn't want him to know, and he wasn't going to force her to tell him. - It's OK. I'm pretty sure you'll remember in time.

They sat down and ate some apples. They didn't talk any more, seeing as the conversation about the dreams had been pretty uncomfortable for both of them. After they finished they got up and delved deeper into the cave

* * *

Wigglytuff's Guild

Chatot was taking care of some visitors of the guild. They were the usual: Either pokemon leaving some missions or pokemon trying to sell them something... He really hated the later. These sellers were always trying to sell them useless stuff. It was either that or just some annoying pokemon that just wouldn't leave when they told them to. While he was lost in his thoughts, a pokemon approached him.

- Hello? Is this Wigglytuff's Guild? - A voice asked. Chatot looked at the visitor. It was a female Chimchar. He could figure because of the painfully obvious showing bow she had on her head.

- Yeah? What is it? - He asked.

- Yesterday I left a mission here for the exploration teams of the guild... They needed to rescue a friend of mine, a Meowth. - Chimchar said. She was really nervous.

- Oh yeah. We already sent an exploration team, it sounded like an easy mission, so I sent in a new team, I hope you are OK with that. - Chatot explained. Chimchar's face paled when he said that. - You did what?! - She exclaimed, everyone in the guild looked at her. Chatot looked around and then at the visitor. - Look, I know you are worried about your friend all right. I mean, if you don't know how to fight why did you go into Drenched Bluff? You don't know that Drenched Bluff is like one of the easiest dungeons out there? What could possibly go wrong? -

Chimchar's eyes were wide open. - Didn't you read that you needed to send the best exploration team you had?! We already know that Drenched Bluff is the easiest dungeon! -

- Then why are you so scared? - Chatot calmly said.

- Well you see... There's something that I didn't mention in the letter and that at the time I didn't find important... - Chatot looked at her, rasisng his right eyebrow. - What are you saying? - Chimchar lowered his head and looked at the ground.

- Well you see... -

* * *

Wigglytuff was organizing all the guilds teams and was revising all the missions that would be posted on the boards the next day. Doing his job as a Guildmaster was extremely important, and everyone at the guild knew that he couldn't be interrupted.

This time though, Chatot came into the room without even knocking at the door. This surprised Wigglytuff, who quickly looked at the door to see the manager in the door, followed by a Chimchar.

- Chatot what's wrong? You look like you are in trouble. - Chatot quickly tried to regain his breath. He had run down the stairs and he had almost fallen off them.

- Guildmaster, it's about Team Pokepals, they... - Wigglytuff interrupted him.- Oh yeah! The new exploration team, with Eric and Eevee! Yeah what about them? They has their first mission today right? -

- It's about that Guildmaster. Team Pokepals might be great danger... -

**Cliffhangers. Gotta love dem Cliffhangers. Don't worry the next chapter should already be up with this one. (Yes, two chapters in one day) So you don't have to wait for it. You want to know what happens next? Then what are ya waiting for?! Go read it!**


	4. Chapter 3 - Ambush

Chapter 3 - Ambush

Drenched Bluff

- Hey Eevee, look at this! Another Flash orb! - Eric said, picking up an sphere that lying in the floor. - What are these used for anyways? - He asked, handing over the orb to Eevee.

- When yo throw them on the floor, they produce an intense bright light, which confuses and blinds all pokemon around it. Really useful if we are surrounded and we want to make an escape route. - She said, putting the orb in the treasure bag. - Wow we almost filled this thing! -

- Really? How much stuff do we have in there? - Eevee opened the bag and checked. - We have... 5 Oran Berries, 3 Blast Seeds, 1 Reviver Seed, 2 Flash Orbs, 1 Sleep Seed and 20 Gravelerocks. Doesn't look like I may be able to fit anything else in it. - Eevee then closed the bag.

- We have Gravelerocks? Then hand them over. I can use them as weapons. - She then reopened the bag and handed him the Gravelerocks. He put them in his bag, which had been designed to have 3 pockets, it was supposed to be used to carry ready to use items at hand. - How far into this cave are we? - He asked.

Eevee looked around. We should be pretty close to the end but... It's really dark... It feels like we are meters down in the earth, when we are just a few centimetres below the ground. - She said, confused. Eric had already noticed this before, the closer they got to the end, the darker it got. Even if there were holes in the ceiling where light could leak in, it was still dark.

- Well, if we are so close to the end, then lets keep going on get this over with! I'm very hungry and we don't have any apples. - Eevee nodded and the both started walking down the path again.

Eventually, it got much darker, much faster. It got so dark that they had to pull out their Light Pins, which emitted light and had to put them on. Eric in his Power Band and Eevee on his Ribbon.

After a few minutes, they arrived at an open room. It was a big open space, with two rock pillars that went from the ground to the ceiling." I guess those must be holding it, so It doesn't go down n our heads." There were a few cracks on both of the rock pillars and on the ceiling. They looked like they were in a really bad shape.

- What is this room for? - Eric asked. There was an ominous feeling around him. Like there was something lurking in that room. Even hough they were using their light orbs, most of the room was engulfed in darkness.

- I don't know, but it's really dark in here... Should we go back? Maybe we missed our client a few floors ago... - Just then, a whimper was heard. It echoed around all the room. So it wasn't clear where it came from.

- Who's there!? Show your self! - Eric shouted. He started looking around the room. He prepared for an imminent attack.

Another whimper came from the darkness. This time, it didn't sound like a sound to Eric, but a word. - H... He...lp... - Eric was ready for anything, but not for that. "Help? What's going on?! Where is he?!"

Eevee started wandering around the rock pillars, examining them. Not only did tey have cracks along them, but also scratches. "Looks like there was a fight..." Then she noticed something in the pillar. It looked like a mark. She got closer to it: It looked like some kind of liquid, and it was red...

"Red?!" Eevee froze. She saw more of it, a trail, slowly descending to the floor. And then she saw it.

- Help... -

**- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!** - Eevee started screaming and running around, scared out of her mind. When Eric heard her he thought that something could have happened. - Eevee! Calm down! - He grabbed the pokemon, who was shaking violently next to him. - What happened?! - Eevee simply raised her paw and pointed at the stone pillar.

Eric turned his head. He looked at the pilar, wich was barely visible from there. He slowly approached it. He then saw the scratches, and then the crimson liquid. It looked fresh. "Oh no..." He followed the trail, which led him to a horrifying scene.

A Meowth was sitting on the ground, his back being supported by the rock pillar. He had scratches all over him. His coat was stained with an intense red colour, which covered most of his chest. He has some kind of red oval in his hand.

- Holy... What the hell happened to you? Are you ok?! Can you talk? - Eric asked the almost conscious pokemon. - Bag... Hu... Th... Day... - He raised his paw and pointed at a leather the bag. Eric reached out for it and looked inside: There were lots of apples, at least 7 Apples."What? Does he want an apple?" Eric picked one form the bag and handed it to the cat pokemon. Before he couldn't even ask, the pokemon reached out and grabbed the apple and ate it on one bite. Heart and all.

- More... Please... I'm starvin'... - Meowth said. Eric grabbed 2 more apples and Meowth quickly ate them. - Thank you. You are a live saver. - Eric picked up the bag and handed it over to him. He grabbed some apples from inside and started eating. He was famished. Eric turned to Eevee, who was a few meters away, looking at him. - Come on Eevee, it's okay. He's just famished. - Eevee stood up and approached the red Meowth.

- Is he... OK? - She asked. Eric smirked. - Of course he is! He was just hungry for 3 days straight, right? - Meowth nodded. Eevee looked at all the mess. - But he's... - Eric finished for her. - Bleeding? Nah. Do you see that red thing on his paw? That's a Cheri Berry, our friend here was only harmed a few times. Am I right? - He asked.

- Yup. Name's Meowth by the way. Me and my friend Chimchar decided to explore this cave, as we saw a large group of pokemon going inside it. When we got to this room, we got ambushed by them. Chimchar managed to run, but I was hurt so I decided to hide in here. After a while, the pokemon left. I was paralysed from the fight so I couldn't do much else than to wait here. I tried to pull out a Cheri Berry from the bag, but... It had been smashed from the fight, so I couldn't use it... I have been stuck in here for 3 days. - Meowth explained. - What you thought was blood was just the Cheri Berry juice. What actually scared me the most was you starting to scream like a maniac.- Pointing at Eevee - I thought those things were back... -

- Oh... - Even though it was really dark Eric noticed that Eevee was blushing of shame. Eric couldn't help but laugh at it. Eevee sighed. - Then you are ok... For a second there I thought I had found someone dead...Anyways. Your friend Chimchar sent us here to help you. We need to get out of this cave and go to Jigglypuff's Guild. Come on follow us... - Eevee walked to the entrance of the room.

- Chimchar? Ha, for once, the tables have turned, I was always the one that helped her. - Eric handed Meowth a paw, so he could stand up. - Thank you – he said. He then walked to where Eevee was standing. Eric picked up the empty treasure bag that Meowth had left on the ground. - Come on, Eric, what are you doing over there? We need to get back to the guild! - Eevee shouted. Eric turned to look at her. - Hold on! -

Meowth was already at the entrance. - What's with the rush? - He asked Eevee. - I want to get out of here, this place feels really uncomfortable. Don't you feel the same way? - Meowth just smiled. - Well, after three days of starving in here, the only thing you start feeling is your belly roaring for food. But I'm kinda getting the same feeling you are talking about now. -

Once Eric finished picking the bag up he walked to the entrance. - Yeah. Something about this place just... doesn't feel right. - He was in the middle of the room when he said this. He then noticed something shining on the floor.

- What's that? - He walked up to it. He looked at the mysterious object. It looked like some kind rock that was made out of gold. Eric reached out to pick it up and as soon as he touched it...

All went to hell.

Screams and roars began to surround Eric. Eric looked up and looked around, but he couldn't see anything because it was too dark to see anything that was more than 2 meters away. - Shit! Run! - He shouted and rushed to the exit. Eevee looked at where the noise was coming from, to see his friend being chased by a large number of shadowy figures.

Eric was running as fast as he could to the exist. He looked behind. There was darkness behind him, but it looked like the darkness was moving. He looked to the exit where his friends were standing and saw something leaping upon them. - Watch out! - He pointed at the leaping shadow.

Eevee quickly looked up to see the figure quickly falling to where she was. It was too close to her. - Ah! - She prepared for the impact... That never came. Meowth quickly pulled out his claws and slashed through the shadow three times. It then vanished into thin air. He looked behind him and slashed another shadow. Eevee tackled another figure and pushed it back into the darkness. They slowly approached the place where Eric was standing.

Eric was trying to keep the shadows away from him. He was punching and kicking anything that was moving close to him. Soon the three of them were together in the centre of the room. Eevee was freaking out, while Eric and Meowth looked around to see if any shadows where edging way to close to them.

- What the hell is going on! - She asked. Eric was prepared for anything that would jump out the shadows. Another figure jumped into Meowth and got slashed out of existence. Another one jumped onto Eric, who punched it. This one though, fell closer to him so close that he managed to make out the silhouette of an Anorith. It quickly jumped in to the shadows again. Meowth noticed this.

- Was that an Anorith?! What the hell is going on?! - He said while he slashed a Leleep. "Well, at least now we know what happened to the pokemon..." Eric thought. Eevee was barely keeping the pokemon away. There were too many of them

- We need to get out of here! - Meowth shouted. Eric turned around to answer the cat pokemon, but then a shadow leaped into Eric. Eevee noticed this and tried to warm him.

- Eric watch out! - Eric turned around too late and the figure hit him. He fell to the ground with the mysterious figure on him. He could distinct tentacles coming from the top of the pokemon. "A Leleep?" He punched the Leleep off him. His light orb shone on the Leleep. Eric then noticed something. It's skin was black. He kicked the Leleep back into the dark corners of the cave. Eric looked at Eevee and saw yet another pokemon leaping on her.

- Watch it! - Eevee then sidestepped to avoid a coal black shellos, who tried to attack her. She jumped to the right, where Eric was. The shellos charged into them, knocking them onto the ground yet again. When they hit the ground, Eric saw how Eevee's bag opened and a blue shiny sphere fell off. Eric had an idea of what it was. He closed his eyes and then an intense light blinded him.

He had been looking directly at the light. Because of this he was instantly blinded. He tried to reopen his eyes as quickly as possible. He tried to look around the room, which was a bright white colour now... That stopped in yet another shade of darkness.

The dark shadows that surrounded them wouldn't even let the light through them, even though they were farther away than before. He could see the form of that abomination now. It looked like they were in the eye of a twister. He could distinct shapes of some creatures inside the tornado. The shellos that had attacked them was gone. He probably went inside the tornado of darkness again. Then again... Even if it ran, it would have never made it back. If that was the case, then what happened to it?

The light was starting to fade out and dark shapes started to come out of it again. He then saw that the weaker the light got, the closer the shadows edged. "It's like they are trying to avoid the light..." Meowth was covering his eyes with his paws, same with Eevee. They were probably blinded from the light. Eric decided to test something out. He grabbed Eevee's treasure bag and pulled the other Flash Orb. Before the light from the first one faded, he aimed and threw the second one at the shadowy mass.

He closed his eyes before the orb made impact. A bright light emerged from the darkness. He quickly reopened his eyes to look at the chuck where he had thrown the orb. He saw that the chunck where the orb hit was gone. The shadows next to it were trying to fill in the gap that it left.

He was right.

- They hate light? - Eric said. Clearly confused. He would have never imagined any kind of creature having such a reaction to something as light. "Great! We can use this to make a escape route out of here!" He reached to Eevee's bag to pull out another orb... But he couldn't find any. That was the last flash orb, and with it, their only hope to escape.

The light started to fade yet again. The darkness began surrounding them again. - Guys open your eyes! Quickly! - Eric looked around at their foes. If they were going down, they would go down wih a fight! Eevee got up from the ground and Meowth opened his eyes. - Why did you use the light orbs? - Eevee asked. They had a few seconds before the shadows started jumping on them again.

- The first one fell off your bag. I used the second one to test something. Apparently these guys hate light. It hurts or scared them. - He said. Eevee looked at him. - Well ain't that just great to know, but little known fact: We are inside a cave, metres under the ground! How do you want to get light in here!? - Asked Meowth.

Eric processed what Meowth had said. "Metres under the ground...". He knew that it was impossible to get light in there, but it was their only hope to, at least, escape without being killed. He then rememberred what Chatot told the before they left. "Drenched Bluff is a mystery dugeon that is located on the side of a cliff. It's pretty much a cave under a hill, so you won't be going to deep underground"

Eric smirked. He looked at the stone pillars and then at the ceiling. - We actually aren't too deep underground... - Meowth looked at him. - What did you say? - Eric quickly turned to Eevee. - Give me the blast seeds, quick! -

Eevee looked at him, he nodded and did as he asked. He had three blast seeds in total. - What are you going to do? You don't have enough for all of these pokemon! - She said. Eric smiled. - Who said I'm aiming a the pokemon... - Eevee looked at him. Eric pointed at the ceiling and Eevee understood what he was going after. And so did Meowth.

He raised his head and picked up one of the blast seeds. The light from the orb was now long gone, and the attack was inminent. - Meowth! Eevee! Cover me! - They nodded and turned to the darkness. The dim light coming from Eric's light orb wasn't bright enough to distinct anything in the room. He needed to remember what he saw when he first entered the room.

Meowth, who was slashing away, noticed that Eric was looking for something. - What are you doing?! - Eric turned and answered. - I'm looking for the pillars! - A shadow lunged behind Meowth. - Watch out! - Meowth turned and slashed a Leleep in half. - I remember the shape of this room! Give me the seeds! - Eric looked at him. - Are you sure?! - Meowth nodded. - Ok... -

Eric gave him the seeds and swapped places.. "Now I just need to orientate my self in this mess..." Meowth thought. "Let's see... What can I use in here as a reference for what way I'm looking at?" He looked around him. He couldn't see anything but darkness. "Nope, that doesn't help..." He looked at the ground and saw a red trail on the floor. " The juice!" He had tried to use the berry and then he dragged him self across the floor, leaving a trail to the pillar he had been sitting against.

His own mistake would be their salvation. He aimed that way and threw the seed, past over Eric's head. The seed made a loud 'thud' sound before blowing up. In the explosion, he could see that the seed had hit the pillar spot on.

- Yes! - he said

The whole cavern shook for a bit as the pillar crumbled down. Eric saw as the pillar was demolished by the explosion, the shadows that were close to the pillar tried to disperse, as the explosion produced light. He memorized the position of the pillar. He was pretty sure that the pillar was in the complete opposite side of the room. He looked behind him. Eric and Eevee were being to get over run by their enemies. He had to be quick. He noticed a few pokemon rushing from his side, that he couldn't protect.

- Over there! - He pointed. Both of his allies turned and fought off the attackers. - Thanks – He looked at where he thought the pillar was. " The pillar I destroyed was behind me, so the the other one has to be there." He aimed at the direction and threw the seed... And missed. The seed landed and exploded in the ground. The flash of the explosion brightened the room to show the pillar not so far away from where it landed, but still, it wasn't close enough to do a lot of damage. It did land near the twister of darkness, clearing up part of it.

Eric saw how the Blast Seed missed – No... - Meowth had missed, they were literally doomed, unless a miracle happened...

And so did.

Meowth charged through the hole in the darkness. The light from the explosion was fading, but there was still enough light for him to see and inspect the pillar. It was in a really bad shape and looked like that seed actually did more damage than it looked like. Maybe if he punched it enough it could crumble down.

He charged into it and punched, but nothing happened except an intense pain in his fist. He looked at the pillar. It hadn't even flinched. He decided to charge into it with his whole body. The light of the explosion was now gone. He charged into the pillar again. The pillar now trembled. He backed away and charged again. Once he hit he pillar again the cave shook violently and the pillar crumbled down.

He ran back to the group... To find him self surrounded by the shadows. Even though he had managed to destroy the pillar he was doomed. It had been a kamikaze charge from his part. He looked around him, the darkness starting to take all of his field of vision.

He covered him self with his arms and closed his eyes, preparing for his death or being turned into one of those things. The screams from the shadows surrounded him. And between the screeches he heard a familiar voice. - Fire in the hole! - And then the cave shook violently, the shadows started to disperse from on top of him. He could see bright white light before the ceiling collapsed on him...

Eric had now watched as Meowth had charged through the enemy. - What is he doing?! - Eevee shouted. Eric knew what he was trying to do. And if he did succeed they might get out of there alive. Soon, when the light of the explosion faded the shadows returned to the chunk that had dispersed. "He's stuck now..." Eric thought, he looked at the reaming Blast Seed that Meowth intentionally left behind.

- Eevee you need to cover me! I only have one shot at this! - Eevee nodded. Eric picked up the seed and waited for the perfect opportunity. In the mean time, more dark pokemon jumped into them. They had to fight some of them before the cavern shook again, a loud crashing noise coming from behind the twister. "Now or never!" Eric looked up to the ceiling, which was in a really bad state. - Fire in the hole! -

He threw the Blast Seed at the ceiling. He looked as the Blast Seed hit the ceiling and exlpoded on contact with the rock. Cracks of white pure light appearing all over it. The cave shook violently before the ceiling started to fall on their heads. Eric looked at Eevee, who hadn't covered her self. - Eevee watch out! - He said, as he jumped on her and used his body as a shield. The world around him became white before a rock his head and blacked out.

Everyone at the guild arrived at Drenched Bluff just in time to hear a crumbling noise. The whole cave shook like there was an Earthquake for 3 minutes straight. Once everything calmed down, they proceeded into the cave. Chimchar was also a part of the group that had come to the cave. Everyone was worried about the rookies, but she only had one thought going through her mind.

"Please, Let Meowth be OK..."

Eevee opened her eyes. She was buried by a few rocks, she easily shook them off her. She stood up and looked around. The first thing she noticed was that the pokemon were gone. Then she noticed that the ceiling was literally gone. There was no indication there had been stone up there, except for all of the rocks that covered the ground.

A few meters away, a few stones started to shake before they where pushed apart. Meowth emerged from the rubble. - Wow, that was intense! Is everyone alright? - Meowth looked like he was ok. - I'm alright!- Eevee looked around - Eric? - Eevee said. She waited for the response of her partner... which didn't come.

- Eric? - She asked again. - Eric where are you? - She started panicking, last thing she remembered Eric was on top of her, acting like a shield for her, since she didn't manage to cover up in time. After that she closed her eyes tight. He had to around there. If he had been a shield to her he had to be close.

- Uuuugghh... - Someone whimpered. It came from a pile of rocks next to Eevee. - Eric!? - She asked. Meowth approached her. - We need to get these rocks off him! - He said. Then they started moving the rocks. After a while they removed all the rocks and discovered Eric, who was unconscious. Meowth leaned down and checked his pulse. - He's ok. He's just unconscious. Probably because something fell on his head. - Eevee sighed. - Well that's a relief... - She said. She looked at Eric, who was beginning to come to his senses again.

- Ow... My... head... - He muttered. He recovered consciousness and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the blue sky, then he saw Eevee. - Oh hey... You... You alright? - Eevee nodded. Eric looked at Mewoth. - And you? - Meowth pointed at his arm. - Feels a bit sore, but OK other wise. -

- That's good. Now let me get up so we can leave this damn place... I'm sick of it. - He stood up on his feet, but it only took him a second before his head started pounding again and had to sit down on the ground. - Ahh... - He groaned. He put his hand of the back of his head when he felt something wet. Then his head started hurting like hell.

- Aaaugh! You've got to be kidding me! - He put his paw in font of his head. - What's wrong? - Asked Eevee. Eric looked at his pawn and smirked - Nothing. I just have Cherri Berry juice on the back of my head. If you know what I mean... - Meowth couldn't help but laugh. Eevee just stood there. It took her a second to realize what he was talking about. - Oh... You'll have to get that patched up then. - Eric took a deep breath and tried to stand up again. - Yup, I'll have to. Now let's get back to the guild, because the sooner I get this patched up the sooner this headache will stop.

He tried to get up again. This time he managed to stand up, but started loosing his balance and almost collapsed on the floor. - OK... Let's go. - He started walking, Eevee and Meowth by his side in case he fell.

They arrived at the entrance of the now destroyed room, they were about to leave when another pile of rocks started shaking. It was fairly close to them, right next to Eevee. - What the... - Suddenly the rocks were thrown everywhere and a pokemon jumped from them, jumping on Eevee and putting his hands around her neck, trying to choke her.

- Shit! Eevee! - Eric charged into the pokemon and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him backwards. He fell on his back, soon followed by the other pokemon. It was some kind of purple monkey with a huge kind of glove tail. The monkey broke free of Eric's grip and rolled to the side. He stood up before Meowth charged and threw him to the ground again. This time grabbing his hands and gripping them close so he couldn't break free.

Eric got up on his knees. His head was pounding. He approached Eevee who was on the ground having a hard time to breath. - Eevee are you ok? Eevee? - On the other side of the room, more piles of rubble and stone started shaking, and other pokemon started raising from them: Shellos, Anorith, Leeleps... There were like ten of them plus the monkey, who was still being held by Meowth.

-You again!? I thought we had gotten rid of you before! - Said the monkey, who was trying to break free from him. Meowth snickered. - What can I say, I'm hard to kill. - The monkey looked at him and smiled. - And I'm hard to catch! - The monkey hit Meowth with his glove tail and sent flying toward Eric and Eevee. He landed a few steps away from them. The monkey got up.

- So, you think that destroying our base and trying to crush us with rocks is gonna stop us? You thought wrong! You aren't going to do anything else than get yourselves killed. And because the avalanche didn't do the job... - He clenched his fist and looked at them menacingly. - We'll have the pleasure of doing it by our own hands... Boys! Finish him! - He looked at Eevee and Eric, who were still on the ground. - Kill the other two too! We don't want any witnesses! - The leader of the group gave his orders and the pokemon started walking to them.

They weren't in a possition to fight. Meowth had a broken arm, Eric was bleeding from his head and Eevee could barely breath. Eric looked around him. No more flash orbs, blast seeds, nothing. This time, they were doomed.

**Ok, I Know two cliffhangers in a row. I suck. To be honest the first one wasn't a cliffhanger, because the 2nd chapter was uploaded with the 3rd.**


	5. Chapter 4 - Pain

**I managed to do the very same thing I did with chapters 2 and 3... Great. Sorry for the wait. Also school just started, so updates aren't going to be as usual as before. Chapter 5 will be up shortly after this one. Sorry for the short chapter.**

Chapter 4 – Pain

Eric and company were surrounded by pokemon. The Aipom was sitting on top of a mount rocks.

- Get them! - He shouted. The pokemon charged at them. Meowth got up from the ground. Eevee was trying to get on the ground, but was having problems because of the previous attack.

Eric felt light headed, but he still had a bit of fight in him. He stood up between Eevee and the pokemon. He had to beat these guys or else... The first pokemon who came close was a Leleep. Eric quickly ducked when launched his upper body at him. He grabbed him by his lower body raised him form the ground. Spinning around he launched him against an incoming group of Shellos, who were instantly knocked out when they were hit by the Leleep.

A few feet away, Meowth was fighting three Anoriths. He turned around and slashed one of them out of the air with his claws. Another one charged at his feet, trying to knock him off his feet and on the ground. Meowth jumped on top of it and stomped the pokemon, inflicting heavy damage to it. He got of the Anorith and kicked the bug pokemon into another one, knocking both of them out.

Aipom was getting irritated at the incompetence of his followers. - For the love of Arceus! You don't even get one right! - He jumped down of his piles of rocks, calling out more reinforcements. This time, there were a large number of Chinglings. - If you want to do something well, you better do it by yourself. - He turned to the 5 Chingling behind him. - Charge! - With that, the brutal force rushed to the group.

The first one to meet with them was Meowth. He charged into them knocking 3 Chinglings to the side, after that he startd fighting them. Right off the bet made sure one of them didn't get up by kicking it far. The remaining two attacked him from behind. Eric now had to fight against two Chinglings and Aipom while he made sure that Eevee was safe.

He decided take care of the Chinglings first. He picked up a rock and threw it at the one on the left of Aipom. He hit it right on the face, knocking it out cold. He picked up a second rock and threw it at the other one, but he so close that he missed. The Chingling jumped and rammed into his head, almost knocked Eric out cold, but it only made him dizzy, he could feel that he was in really bad shape and really tired. Meowth by that time was almost finished fighting the Chinglings that had surrounded him.

Eevee was trying to get up on her feet and help Eric, but when ever she tried to do so, she felt her throat hurt and tried to breath in, coughing really hard afterwards. The attack of the Aipom had gotten her by surprise and he had his chest as well as trying to choke her, which was making breathing really hard for evolution pokemon.

Eric quickly grabbed the Chingling by the strings on top of it's head. He lifted in from the ground and into the air. He aimed at Aipom and threw the pokemon with all of his strength. Right when it was about hit though, the monkey simply grabbed it, turned around and launched the pokemon at Meowth, who had finished his fight and was coming towards him. The bell pokemon collided with the cat head on, knocking both of them out.

At this moment, the only two standing on their feet in the whole room were Eric and Aipom.

Aipom looked at Eric and smirked and spoke. - So, I don't even know who you are, but you've managed to resist to all of my followers and defeated them. - The Aipom waved his tail hand around, trying to show Eric the unconscious bodies of the pokemon lying all over the crumbled ground. - You are clearly stronger than you look. But... - The Aipom looked him over – You clearly don't know how to fight. Your power means next to noting if you don't know how to properly fight,wich will benefit me. Now, the question is... - The Aipom raised his arms and clanched his fists. - Are YOU powerful enough to bring me down?! Guess we're about to figure out! -

And with that he roared and charged at Eric. Eric crossed his arms in front of him to receive the less damage possible from the attack, but was too late as Aipom moved at a blinding speed, hitting Eric in his chest and sending backwards into another pile of rubble. Eric felt like his back was about to break as he hit the rubble, almost collapsing said structure. He tried to ignore the pain in his back and focused on the monkey pokemon, who was mocking him by jumping around and sticking his tongue out.

This made Eric furious, but didn't let his feelings take over. The rose up from the rubble and watched out for any kind of movement his enemy made. Aipom stopped his dancing, seeing as his taunting affect Eric in the slightest. - Interesting... Well, I guess this will be far more interesting than I thought then! - He then threw a rock into the air and smashed it with his giant hand tail. It turned into dust that quickly obstructed Eric's vision as it hit his eyes.

Eric knew he was plotting something, so before removing the dust form his eyes he stood up and rolled to the left. He then rubbed the dust out of his eyes while he heard Aipom collide with the rubble. That gave Eric a few precious seconds as he quickly charged at Aipom and grabbed the back of his head, then smashing it into the rubble again. Aipom let out a growl of pain as his face met the rocks and deformed he's face, making his nose bleed.

Eric then tried to smash him again, but he was it by the Aipom's tail, that was now made out of some kind of silver metal. The attack hit Eric directly in his side making Eric flinch a little in pain, as he heard some of his ribs crack. Eric brought his hands down instinctively to his side, which let Aipom free of his hold. He turned his face away from the rock and looked at Eric. He then threw a punch at the Riolu's face, making him back away. It wasn't short before Eric countered with a left punch and kicked the pokemon's leg, trying to throw him off balance.

Unfortunately, the Aipom's tail was strong enough to keep the Aipom in the air. Eric noticed this as the Aipom smashed his hand to the floor and pulled his feet off the floor... And into Eric's face. He did this as he launched him self from the ground, throwing Eric into the air. The long tail pokemon fell on his feet first, where as Eric face planted on the floor. The riolu rose his head from the ground, his head hurting like hell right now, in addition to his left side and now he's nose was bleeding too.

Aipom didn't let Eric catch a break, as he grabbed him by his head and threw him at one of the walls that were still standing. Eric left a crack on the wall because of the impact, which made his right side hurt after it hit. He looked in front of him to see a sharp stone inches away from his head. He tried to catch his breath, but Aipom was already there and bragged his head again, trying to impale it on the stone.

Eric used used his hands to pull his head away from the stone, whilst Aipom was pushing him into it. Eric then noticed that Aipom had his head extremely close to the back of his. He thought about something, feeling as how his arms were starting to give in to fatigue, he knew he had no other way out of there. "This is gonna hurt like hell..." He thought. He then used all of his strength to get his head as close the Aipom's as possible and threw his head back at him. Aipom growled in pain as he hit face yet again. He threw it back again, making Aipom dizzy.

Eric could feel as Aipom's grip on him was weaker than beforem and even if he's head felt like a 10 pound stone on his neck, he still managed to pull off another head butt, making Aipom raise his hands up to his face as he felt like the bone from his nose broke in tiny pieces. An intense pain filled his face, which made him back away in pain, clearly dizzy. Eric's head felt like it was about to blow up, but he couldn't stop there. He somehow found enough strength to raise on his feet and approached Aipom.,he then started throwing punches at the pokemon.

Aipom was now in a world of hurt as a result of Eric's brutal attacks, he didn't even know where Eric's punches where coming from. Eric then threw one last uppercut right to his chin. Aipom stumbled backwards a few inches. Before he looked back down and then at Eric. His face was now covered in bruises and cuts, his nose, squashed and bleeding. He's eyes were filled with a look of anger and blood thirst. Aipom opened his mouth and shrieked before he lunged at Eric, trying to grab it's throat and rip it off with his teeth.

Eric grabbed the Aipom's arms and tried to stop him from advancing, but the Aipom was filled with the desire of seeing the riolu's bleeding body on the floor. Eric backed away, pushed by the Aipom before he tripped over a rock. He once again hit the ground with his back first, the rest of his body following him. The sharp stone was now to his right side.

Aipom tried to bite his neck off right there and ten, but Eric raised his right arm to defend him self. The Aipom grabbed it with his arms and brought it down to his side. Eric's world slowed down as he saw how his right arm was brought down right on top of the rock.

* * *

The guild members where getting closer and closer to the end of the dungeon. Wigglytuff was leading the group. They rushed through the tunnel. After a while they saw light.

- Come on we are almost there! - Shouted Chatot.

And then they heard the scream.

* * *

Eevee was starting to recover from the attack. She raised her head to see Eric struggling with the Aipom. "I have to do... something..." She then saw how Eric tripped on a rock and fell on the floor.

Aipom tried to bite him, but he raised his arm to try and defend himself. The pokemon grabbed his right arm with blinding speed and brought it down to the floor next to him.

Then she saw it. Blood. Eric screamed in pain as

Blood spewed everywhere as she saw how Eric's arm was impaled on a sharp stone. - ERIC! - She shouted. She got up from the floor and rushed to the Aipom and bit down on his leg. The Aipom howled out in pain as he felt his leg being punctured by Eevee's sharp teeth. Aipom looked down at the pokemon and shook his leg violently. She let go off his leg and tried to stand on her feet, but Aipom was too quick and kicked her. Eevee went flying a few feet before she hit the ground and rolled a few inches, then stopped, knocked out cold.

- **NO!** - Eric shouted. Then felt how energy rushed back to his body. He was filled with anger now. "This... **FUCKER!** Thinks he can get away with this! I won't let him, even if it kills me!" He got up from the ground, bringing the sharp stone impaled in his right arm with him. He started running at the Aipom, who was smiling at the pathetic effort of the Eevee to save his friend. He then turned around as he heard someone running to him. He turned around too late as Eric threw a barrage of punches that hit him continuously, making him flinch with every single punch that hit him.

Eric didn't even care that his arm had been impaled by a rock, he was throwing punches like mad, hitting the Aipom everywhere he could. He didn't care about his arm, neither of his headache or his broken ribs, he just wanted to see this pokemon whimpering in the ground and experiencing the biggest amount of pain he would ever feel. He tried to counter Eric by grabbing his arm, but Eric quickly grabbed it's arm and spun around him self .The result was Aipom's being dislocated, as it was spurn around, Aipom screamed in pain, grabbing his twisted arm with his healthy arm. Eric didn't even care and just kept punching the pokemon.

After a few seconds they arrived at the other side of the room. When they were next to wall Eric threw a right punch. - **GO** – He threw a punch with his left paw. - **TO** – Eric then raised his right leg and kicked Aipom's chest, sending him flying to the wall. - **HELL** –

Aipom was launched to the wall and hit it with the back of his head first. The room was filled with a "**Crack"** noise as Aipom's skull collided wit the wall. The room went silent after that. Afterwards, Aipom's unconscious body fell to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the wall behind him. Eric was now standing alone in the room. Everyone around him on the floor, unconscious. He was panting heavily. Little by little, he came back to his senses as he started feeling the pain coming from his head, sides and arm at the same time. He winced as he fell to his knees. The pain beginning to be too much for him to bear.

He heard something coming from the tunnel that connected the room with the rest of the dungeon. He then saw a pink like bunny creature enter the room, followed by other creatures, but at that moment, they looked like blurry figures to him. One of them shouted something, but Eric couldn't hear what it said, as his hearing became all muffled. He felt his weight increasing as his legs gave out the last of his strength, falling to the cold floor under him. His eyes beginning to close as his vision became blurry. He started hearing his heartbeat, each time louder and louder before he fell unconscious.


	6. Chapter 5 - Honesty

Chapter 5 - Honesty

Eric came back to him self. He felt like he was floating in the air

"Uuuuugh... My... head... Shit..." Words lingered around his head, still trying to process what was happening. He tried to raise his right paw to his head... inmediately greeting his choice as he felt a stinging pain go through his body. He yelped in pain as he brought his arm down to the floor. A voice that at that time seemed distant echoed in the air. He couldn't really make out who it was or what it was saying.

He slowly opened his eyes, his vision at first blurry. He could make out five figures around him, which slowly turned into distinguishable shapes. He felt something soft on his forehead. He saw how the shapes turned into pokemon that he knew. On his left side, he could see Chimecho, scolding someone on his right. Next to her, Chatot was nodding continuously nodding, he was probably expressing that Chimecho was right.

There two other figures in front of him. One of them was Meowth, the other one next to him alarmed him, as he saw that light was coming out of it. Then he looked at his left and saw the pokemon that was being scolded at: Eevee. It looked like none of the presents in the room had noticed he was awake. He looked around the room, trying to do something. He looked at the pokemon around him: Chatot and Chimecho at his right, Eevee on his left and Meowth and the burning chimp next to him at Eric's fe...

Wait a second...

- HOLY FREAK IT'S ON FIRE! - Eric shot up from his bed, looking directly at the burning chimp, who had jumped back a few feet, as well as Mewoth who had plled out his claws and was ready to attack. Not only her, but everyone in the room jumped back startled. Eric looked around: Eevee was curled up on the bed next to Eric. At Eric's right, Chatot was at the wall, he looked like he was splattered on the wall, his chest coming up and down really fast, nex to him Chimecho was lying on the ground, not moving at all.

Eric looked at the burning pokemon again, who was getting pretty close to Meowth. Now that he looked at it better, he noticed that it didn't appear to be in any sort of pain. In fact, the flames had died down and he couldn't see them no more. Eric looked around again. - Ummmm... What am I doing here? - he said, confused. Everyone on the room stumbled as they heard what he just said. Eric raised his left eyebrow. - Did I say something wrong or what? -

Chatot was the first to speak up once he calmed down. - Are you OK Eric? You're at your room in the guild. You and your team fainted while you were in your mission. We found you in a wide open room, surrounded by other pokemon. Do you remember any of this? - Eric thought about it for a second. "Guild... Mission.. Wide open room..." - Oh yeah! Now I remember! We were on a mission to rescue someone! But then those guys showed up and... - Eric wanted to continue with his history, but Chatot interrupted him. - Don't worry, Mick here already told me all that happened. -

Eric looked at the bird. - Mick? Who's that? - Someone in front of his feet then stepped forward: it was Meowth. - That would be me. - Eric turned his head to the cat. - Huh? What's, but.. - He was interrupted by Eevee launching at him and hugging him really hard. She started muttering words like "I'm sorry, it was my fault, I was weak..." Eric stood there for a few seconds before he pulled her away slowly. - Ummmm... Ow? You really over did it with that hug Eevee. - She scratched the back of her head wit her paw.

- Also, it wasn't your fault, so don't blame yourself for something that you couldn't do anything about. - He said, earning a nod from the fox pokemon, who was still sobbing a little bit. - But... I was just really worried about you... You had been asleep for a whole week and I thought you were dead... - Eric's eyes widened. - Hold on, what?! Did you say one week? Did I seriously sleep for a whole week?! - Eevee nodded. Eric slowly moved his head and looked down at his feet. "Wow... I'm lazy..." He thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by Meowth coughing. - You missed a lot of things while you werr asleep Eric. We'll need to talk about all that's happened and your... - Chimecho got up from the ground, apparently she had been knocked out because of how hard she hit her head with the wall. - Condition – Meowth said with a slightly different tone. - What are you talking about dude? - Meowth looked at him, the look on his face turning into a worried gaze. - Eric... Your right arm got... damaged... - Was all he said. Eric slowly turned his head to the right, and then looked at his arm. "Oh no..." He thought, when he saw what had become of his arm.

What had been his right arm in other days was now a white covered kind of roll that was sticking out of his shoulder.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh..." Eric thought before he blacked out again.

* * *

Eevee accompanied Eric out of his room, followed by Meowth and the Chimchar. Eric looked sad. He had been told that his arm was in a really bad condition, as it had been stabbed by a rock and had broken some bones. It would heal if he ate a lot of Oran Berries each day, but even then, it would take several months until he could fully use his arm. Other than that, he had a few cracked ribs that would heal in a few days and the injury in his head wasn't that bad at all. It would only produce him some headaches even know and then...

Still, the right arm thing had felt to Eric like a kick in the stomach. He walked out to the guild's main room. Everyone in the guild was there. More than half of them couldn't stop looking at his wounded arm. He managed to get up the stairs of the guild with a little help from his friends. Once they got out they walked down the stairs and sat down next to the well. They all stared at the ground, silently. They were like this for about ten minutes, before Meowth spoke up. - Well... I guess you want to know what's happened over the week asleep... - Eric looked at him, an expressionless look on his face. - Sure... - He sounded discouraged.

Meowth looked at the chimchat and sighed.- Well ok then, first of all, my real name is not Meowth, it's Mick, and this... - He pointed at the chimchar. - it's Milly. Together we are the leaders of the Emberclaw Exploration Team. - Eevee looked at them, surprised. - Wait, Team Emberclaw?! You are one of the most famous exploration teams ever! What are you doing here in Treasure Town? - "Eevee sounds really exited about these guys... Whatever..." Milly started talking. - We were on a mission to capture the outlaw "Aipom, the out-runner" We decided to not tell anyone we were here since it was a possibility that Aipom had spies in the town. We had him cornered in the Drenched Bluff, but when we got to him he pulled off an ambush on us. -

- When I saw that there was no way we were going to get out of this I helped Milly get out of there and call for help. I stayed in the dungeon where I was paralysed and knocked out cold. I woke up a few hours before you guys appeared in the room, and... You know the rest... - Eevee looked at them. - Unbelievable, we helped and saved one of the best exploration teams ever! But... Why did you post a mission instead of asking someone for actual help? - Milly rubbed the back of her head with her pawn. - Well... I didn't want any like... fans of our team to get in the way... Or anyone else for that matter... I just wanted a good exploration team to rescue Mick and bring him back safe and sound... -

Eric darted daggers at her, he was really irritated at the chimp. - Oh! Really now! You didn't ask anyone else for help, you had to post a mission and making Mick wait for someone to help him. Not only that, but also risking my life and Eevee's life alike at the same time! Just because you didn't want to ASK ANYONE FOR HELP?! - Milly backed away, and Mick got in the middle of the angered Riolu and the scared Chimchar. Eevee just looked at him, shocked in awe. -Eric, what the hell is wrong with you?! - Eric looked back at her.

- What's wrong with me?! She risked both of our lives just because she didn't ask properly for help! Even if it would call EVERYONE'S attention in Treasure Town, I think ANYONE would be helpful in that situation! But no! She decides to post a mission so TWO days latter some exploration team can help her! JUST ASK ANYONE FOR HELP! - Eevee was shocked at what her partner said. Not only was he menacing looking when he was mad, but also all that he said did make some sense when she thought about it. If it had been her, she would have asked anyone for help, even if she were part of a famous exploration team.

- Eric! Calm down! What the hell dude! Even if she did something wrong like that, you don't have to burst at her like that! No one that hasn't done anything mildly bad should be treated like that! - Eric was panting heavily after he bursted out. He slowly calmed down. He was still mad, but he made it look like he had calmed down. - I'm... sorry. I... I'm better now... tell us what else happen - He was intermediately cut off by Milly. - You're lying! You are just as mad or more as before! Calm down! -

Eric looked at her, perplexed. - What? How did you... Huh?! - Mick looked at Milly, who was now facing the Riolu. - Ummm... Also, Milly here has a really special ability... She can see through lies. Even the faintest little lie, she will see through it and will know you're lying. It's been a really useful ability over time and has helped us pull off a lot of our amazing missions. -

- Eric... Please... just calm down, for real this time... - Eevee told him, putting her paw on his left shoulder. Eric looked at the ground, ashamed at his reaction. - I'm... sorry. I'm honest now. - He was actually honest. He tried his best to calm down. Mick nodded at his friend and she nodded. Eric was being honest this time.

- Well, anyways. After you fought Aipom, you fainted. Shortly after that everyone at the guild arrived and saw the scene. I was the first one to wake up, a few moments after they arrived. We carried both of you back to the guild. After that we called officer Magnezone and he did the rest with the criminals. Speaking of Aipom... - He looked at Eric. - What? Did I do something? -

Mick looked at his with a serious glare. - When they checked Aipom out they found out that you gave him more of a beating than you may think. - Eric looked at the cat, now both confused and concerned at how serious he was being. - They told me that with your fight you managed to: Break half of his ribs, twisted his left arm, cracked parts of his front skull area. Also, the bone in his nose was literally reduced to mush, he won't be smelling anything for a long time. In a nutshell: You almost killed him. -

Eric took in the words. He had almost killed someone. - Even if it was a very wanted criminal, you can't give him a beating of that magnitude. - Eric and Eevee were silent. - Milly spoke up, breaking the silence. - Well, even after that we managed to catch the outlaw, and without your help we would have never made it. - Eric smirked. - Well, thanks for saying that... I guess. - Eevee smiled too. Even if they did what they did, they still did good.

We are not the only ones that have recognised your bravery and the magnitude of what you did. As such. The oficial exploration team federation have rewarded you. Your team is now a gold rank team, also you have received a bigger treasure bag. - With that, he pulled two badges out of the bag on his belt, also giving said to bag to Eric. - Congratulations. -

Eevee started hopping around of pure glee. Eric was happy too, but... He really couldn't accept that they had been rewarded for almost beating someone to death.

* * *

Eric was laying down in his bed. Eevee was peacefully sleeping right beside him. He still couldn't believe what he had been told that day. "Has it really been a whole week? I can't believe it. It feels like it all happened yesterday." He moved around in his bed. He couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in with his broken arm. "I'm not getting any sleep tonight I guess." He sat up and walked up to the window. He looked outside and stared at the moon.

"I really don't know anymore... Did I really mess Aipom that bad I almost killed him? I got enraged after he kicked Eevee but... I don't think I was really thinking at that point. I just wanted to murder him... Ugh, what have I done?!" Eric sat on the ground and turned around to face the room. He put up his paw to his face and rubbed his forehead. He sat there for a few minutes before he heard something.

He looked around and saw Eevee moving around and rolling in her sleep. It looked she wasn't having a nice dream. Eric just stared at her, wondering if he should wake her up. He then saw how she started muttering in her sleep. - No... Please... Don't leave me... Where are you... - Eric decided to wake her up, seeing as she would most likely not having much sleep anyways.

Eric crawled up to her and shook her a bit. She shot up from bed, startled. She looked around, confused at to where she was, she stopped when she was Eric. - What? What's wrong, what happened? - Eric sighed. - You were having a nightmare, so I decided to wake you up. - Eevee looked down, clearly ashamed that she had to be waken up from a bad dream. - No it's just that... that... -

- What Eevee? It was just a nightmare, right? - Eevee nodded in silence. - Yeah... It's just that... Eric... I need to tell you something... It's about that nightmare. - Eric looked at her confused. "Why would she want to tell me something like that?" - Why do you want to tell me about it? - Eevee looked at him in the eyes. - because I trust you and I think I can share this with you. - Eric sighed. - OK... - He sat down in his bed and looked at the pokemon.

Eevee breathed in. - You see... Remember when we were in Drenched Bluff and we talked about dreams? - Eric nodded. - Well... I lied... I actually had a nightmare about my parents. - Eric raised his eyebrow. - Your parents? Why? - Eevee looked really sad, and was doubting if she told him... but she decided to tell him.

Well you see... -

_I was born in a forest not far from here, and I grew with my family in the place I called home. I had seven brothers, each one of them taking the from of every kind of eeveelution that there was. I was the youngest of them all, and I was the only female that my mother, an Espeon, had given birth. My mother and brothers always cared about me a lot and treated me like a family would, but... My father... He never liked me. He was an Umbreon, a the descendant of the most powerful family of Eevee in that forest. He was please to have seven children with my mother, but when I was born... He saw me like an illness to his family. I was the only female that had been born in decades inside his lineage. He thought I was weak and worthless, and he said that both my mother and me were responsible for it. At first it didn't affect me much, other than not having the sympathy from my father. But... As the years passed and my brothers got older, he managed to make them start sharing his opinion about me and my mother. At this time it was not only my own father, but my brothers also hated me, just because I was who I was... and I couldn't do anything about it. It slowly started getting up to me and I started thinking: Am I really that weak? Am I a drawback for everyone? My mother though, was always there for me, even if my father didn't approve it. One day, me and my mother went to Treasure Town to make some shopping. I decided to go off and play with some other pokemon. When the time that I had to meet up with my mother arrived I went to the crossroads just outside the town... Just to find she wasn't there. I waited and waited... but she never came. I decided to go back home my self, but when I got to the forest and headed to where my family's den was... I saw..._

Eevee stopped there, her eyes were watering. She had already been sobbing throught thw whole story, but even if it hurt her she still wanted to tell him. - I... saw something... horrible... - Sahe started sobbing again, tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. - You saw what Eevee? What did you see when you came back to the den? - Eric asked, worried about her friend now. "Maybe I've pushed her too hard..." - I... In the den... my mother's cold corpse was lying on the floor... - Eevee started crying uncontrollably now, the images of her mother's cold corpse rushing back to her.

I … I... I got close to her... She was bleeding from the neck... Something had bitten neck, killing her instantly... - Eevee's bed was getting stained by her tears. Eric couldn't even believe what he was hearing. - When the doctors came... They said that the markings on her neck... Matched the ones of an Umbreon... - She dropped to the floor and put her paws on her head. A poodle of tears now growing under her face. - He... He killed her... And if I came back with her... He would have killed me too... -

Eric got close to her and put a paw on her head. Eevee looked at him with her eyes filled with tears. He wasn't crying, though his eyes were showing a look of both sadness and concern for the poor fox pokemon. He couldn't open his mouth before Eevee jumped at him and hugged him tightly, her face buried in his chest, sobbing and her tears staining his fur. She needed to let out all her pain, so who could she ask aside from her best friend and partner? Eric didn't know what to do, or what to say. So he did what his heart told him to... And hugged her back with his left arm.

They both stayed like that for a few minutes. Eventually, Eevee calmed down and fell asleep, still in Eric's embrace. Once he heard her breathing peacefully again she put him down on her bed again, crawled over to the other part of the room and laid on his bed.

"What... what should I do know? She's told me something that I had never expected from her... I... Wow... Poor Eevee... To think she's always looked cheerful since and met her... and now... I've seen what's under the mask..." He turned around to face the now peacefully sleeping pokemon. He moved his right arm so he didn't lay all his weight on it and closed his eyes. The fur in his chest still wet from Eevee's tears. Before he drifted to sleep he heard Eevee mutter in her sleep. - Thanks... - He smiled to himself and let his weariness take over, making him fall asleep a few seconds later.

**AIGHT THEN, this part of the history is DONE. You could consider these first five chapters like some kind of introduction to the characters and setting up the roots for some of the later events in the history. Personally, I think these chapters could've been done a lot better. I may edit them some other time, but not now. I am going to focus on writting the next chapters, trust me, it gets better from now on. I would also appreciate some reviews of the story, see if you guys like what you see or not. Thanks a lot for anyone that's reading this. Next chapter will be up next week I think. Have a nice day.**


	7. Chapter 6 - Shadows

**Writing this took way longer that it should have, and I managed to be dumb enough to write at least 4000 words in one damn sitting. I need to schedule this... anyways, longest chapter yet, review and tell me if you like chapters being this long or not. **

Chapter 6 – Shadows

- Eric come on! Why aren't you happy? We are going to Tropical Land! Isn't it awesome? - Said Luis, who was sitting next to him in the car. He was fairly excited to go to the newly opened amusement park, as well as her sister, Mary. They were both Eric's cousin's, and they were quickly growing to be Eric's brother and sister as he was know living with his uncle and aunt. His cousin's were 6 years old, one year older than him.

- Yeah, isn't it super duper awesome?! I want to go on the Dragon Circuit so bad! - Said Mary, who was bouncing up and down in the seat. - Yeah... It's cool but... Shouldn't you be excited next morning, after we go out of the hotel? - Said Eric. At that moment they were driving through the highway at night, the car's front lights illuminating the way. It was close to midnight. Just calm down until we get to the hotel and then you can run around OK? -

- OK! - Both of them said, with cheerful smiles on the faces. A few moments later... - We are bored... - They both exclaimed at the same time. Eric sweat dropped. "Yeah, right... As you always are..." - How about you play a game then? - Proposed his Uncle, who was in the copilot's seat. Eric's aunt was driving now. - What game? - Eric asked. - Well... How about I Spy? I start OK? -

He looked around for a bit and saw something that caught his interest. - I spy with my little eye something thin. - "Thin? Only so many thin things in the world... But that you can actually see from a car..." - Is it a cable? - Mary said quickly. - You're right! Nice going Mary! - His uncle cheered her. Mary blushed and looked at Eric. - Why don't you go now Eric? See what you can spy. - Eric sighed. - OK then... - He looked around.

- I spy, with my little eye... something... that doesn't have any colour! - He exclaimed. Both Mary and Luis looked at him. - Something colourless? Is there anything that can be colourless? - Eric smirked. His uncle looked back at him, a wide smile on his face. "He knows..." - Let them guess it. - He whispered. After ten minutes they didn't find the answer.

- OK then, I will give you an easier one. I spy with my little - "I spy... with my little eye... a red car coming you way..." Just then, Eric heard that. Seconds later, his vision was engulfed in a bright light. A loud noise, a scream and the world went to black.

* * *

Wigglytuff's Guild

He felt something cold under him. It could be the hard ground, but he wasn't too sure. Someone was shaking him awake. - Eric come on wake up already... You and Eevee have been sleeping for a while now... - Someone said. Eric opened his eyes, his face to the ground. He turned around and sat up. Loudred was next to him. - Loudred? What's wrong why aren't you screaming at us? - Somewhere out the room's door he heard someone chuckle. - Chatot told me to wake you up more... gently this time around, as you and Eevee are still recovering from the fight. - He then remembered everything that happened yesterday, including...

He looked at Eevee, she was still sleeping peacefully in her bed. Loudred was already walking up to her. - Wait. Don't wake her up yet, she couldn't sleep very well yesterday. - Loudred looked at him. - Ooohhh, so that's why she was crying last night... - Eric looked at him, surprised. - Huh?! How did you...?! - Loudred just smiled. - Not only me but everyone at the guild knows. Consider that everyone's rooms are adjacent to yours. We just heard her cry though, so we didn't know if you were arguing or something. - "Phew, at least they didn't hear what she told me..."

- Don't tell her that you heard her cry. I think it would be better. - Loudred nodded and went out the room, soon followed by Eric, who turned his head to see the peacefully sleeping fox pokemon. He then smiled and headed out of the door.

* * *

- Well anyways, how about you tell me in detail what's been happening this week I've been out? As well as showing me around, Mick? - He had gone to the crossroad outside the guild. Where he had found Mick and Milly, coming back from a mission. They felt guilty of what had happened to them, so they decided to stay for some time. They were heading to Treasure Town, and considering that Eric had never been to Treasure Town, he wanted them to show him around.

- OK then. Sounds like a good plan! Also I will be able to give you something for your amnesia. - "Huh?! How did he..." - Shall we? - Mick asked Milly, who then nodded. They turned around and headed to the west side of the crossroad.

When Eric first heard the name of Treasure Town, he thought it would look like some kind little town that had two shops and a few houses, but he wasn't expecting to see a large number of pokemon going up and down on roads, visiting buildings or shops, and talking in large groups.

There were some roads that headed to the left that started in the main road. They seemed to head to a more residential area. In the distance he could see a wooden bridge that crossed over a river.

Some buildings on the right side of the road where being visited continuously by pokemon. Mick and Milly walked up the first building, a white skull shaped building, covered by a dark blue rug. There was a weird pokemon on the counter, talking with pokemon. Milly walked up the pokemon and talked with her. - Hey Duskull! How's it going? - Duskull looked at her, his eyes widening. - What the... Milly? - He looked at the approaching Meowth. - Mick?! What? What are you guys doing here? I thought you guys were working at Mountar City! -

Eric walked up to the skull pokemon, who was talking with both Mick and Milly. Duskull looked at him. - Well, who's this? A Riolu? You don't see these around here too often! Is he a new one of the team? - Mick looked at Eric. - Nah. He's just a friend of ours. We are showing him around, and also, I would like know if you know who has... "that". -

- That? What are you even talking about? - Mick sighed. - Oh come on dude. I gave to you when we parted ways, you said it would help you. - Duskull looked up and tried to remember. He then gasped. - Ooooh! Do you mean that book? I gave it to Eon and Kleck, they needed it for a while, because they were starting to forget some pokemon and they would be embarrassed if they didn't remember the type of one of their clients. They should still have it, unless they gave it to Electro. -

Okay then. Well anyways, our friend here has never been to Treasure Town, so we want to show him around the town. So explain to him what you do here. - Duskull looked at Eric. He smirked, which sent chills up Eric's spine. - Well... - Duskull looked at Mick. - His name is Eric. - He whispered very low, but Eric still heard him and sighed. - Well, Eric, here you can deposit your Poke so when ever you go inside a dungeon you don't risk loosing your money when you faint. -

"Interesting... I'll have to remember this." Mick looked down the main road to look at other shops. Next one down the road was a black and yellow building. Once Duskull stopped explaining Mick spoke up. - We need to keep going now, thanks for your help Skully. - Mick smirked, while Duskull... or Skully grunted. Milly just chuckled. - Come on let's go guys! - Milly walked down the road to the next building.

* * *

Eevee slowly woke up, she opened her eyes to see herself alone in the room. " Wha... Where's Eric?" Eevee quickly got up from the bed and walked out to the hallway. There was nobody in any of the apprentice's rooms. She walked out to the main room. Chatot was attending some visitors, Croagunk was hanging around at his place and Loudred was talking with someone down a hole in the ground next to him.

She walked up to Chatot and talked to him when he finished with the other pokemon. Chatot noticed her. - Oh Eevee, here you are! If you are looking for Eric he's in Treasure Town with Mick and Milly, they are showing him around the town. - Eevee thanked him and walked up the stairs and out of the guild, heading to Treasure Town.

She walked in front of both Duskull Bank and Electrivire's Move Shop. Once she crossed the bridge she got to the Kangaskhan Storehouse, which had recently swapped places with the Kecleon Market. When she got to said shop she saw a group of pokemon there. She could distinct a few familiar shapes from afar. She could see Eric, Mick and Milly, as well as the Kecleon Brothers. There were also two blue pokemon.

- Hey guys! - She said. Eeveryone turned to look at her, at this time, the small blue pokemon dropped a red round thing, which rolled to Eric's feet. Milly was the first one to talk. - Hi Eevee! You finally woke up! - Mick said hi, as well as the Kecleon Brothers. Eric crouched to pick up the apple that the blue pokemon had dropped. He then gave it to the pokemon. - Thanks mister! - Eric smiled. - No problem... Emm... I didn't actually catch both of your names. - Both of them smiled. The big one walked up. - My name is Marill, and this... - He pointed at the smaller one. - Is Azurill. -

- OK, I'm Eric, this is Eevee. - He said pointing at her. Then he pointed at Mick and Milly. - These are... - He was cut short by Azurill. - We already know them! Mick and Milly! We couldn't possibly forget them after what they did for us! - Eric raised an eyebrow. - Azurill, we need to get going, mother may get worried of we don't come back in time. - Azurill nodded. - Well, goodbye then! - They said, and then walked off. - Well, thanks for the help guys, thanks god you didn't loose it after all. - The Kecleon looked at them. - No problem! - They said in unison. After that the group said goodbye and walked off.

- So, what was it that you guys were looking for? - Eric asked. Eevee wasn't sure what they were talking about. - Well, here you have, something for your memory loss problem! - They gave Eric a book. The title read: Pokedex. "Pokedex? Weird name" - This is a very valuable book, it contains information of every single type of pokemon that has ever been seen. If you study it for a bit you should be able to remember all types of pokemon. It also contains all the moves that the pokemon can normally know. -

- Wow... Thanks a lot of guys! This will help me a lot to recover my memory. - Milly blushed. - Nah, it's nothing, it's the least we can do after you helped us. Still... - She leaned against Mick, who yelped in surprise. - It was all his idea, so you should thank him. - Mick instantly blushed. - He.. Hey! - Everyone laughed after that.

Eric still had a question. - So, everyone we met today was part of your exploration team in the past? Including Azurill and Marill? - Mick shook his head. - No, only the owners of the shops were old friends of ours. We met those two three days ago, when we saved Azurill from an outlaw that had kidnapped him. - Eric and Eevee looked at them. - Aaaaaahhh... - They said in unison. They spent the rest of the day talking about that.

In the bushes far away a pair of eyes were observing the group, a maleficent smirk appearing in the face of the creature, before he went back into the shadows of the forest...

* * *

**That night...**

- Eric are you still reading that thing? - Eevee asked. Eric was sitting on his bed, the Pokedex open at his feet. - What? I need to learn all of this stuff as soon as possible! - Eevee sighed. - Yeah, but can you please keep at it tomorrow? - Eric sighed. - Fiiineeee... - He closed the book and laid on his back, carefully so he didn't rest on his right arm. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

- Say Eevee – Eevee looked at him. – What? - She asked, she wanted to go to sleep. – Why don't we get you a nickname? - Eevee widened her eyes in surprise. – What? A nickname? Well... - She considerated it for a second. – Yeah why not. Mick and Milly have one, might as well get one to difference me from other Eevees. - Eric nodded. – Yep, my point exactly. Any ideas about one? - Eevee thought for a bit. - Nah, I'll have to think about it over the night. - She layed back on her bed. - Goodnight... - Eric laid on his left side, looking at the other side of the room. - Goodnight... -

He tried to sleep, but he couldn't. He opened his eyes and looked in front of him. He noticed something was out of order. He hadn't put the book back into the bag. He grabbed it and put it back inside the bag with his left paw. Though, when he did this, he felt something cold touch his hand.

He moved his hand around in the bag and grabbed something. He pulled it out of the bag and looked at the object. He froze in place when he was what it was. It was that metallic thing they found at Drenched Bluff. He still didn't know what it was. He shrugged. Thinking about it wasn't going to help him sleep. He placed it inside the bag and rested on the bed. He closed his eyes and driffted off to sleep... Until his head starting hurting. "Ugh... What the..." His head started hurtin again, this time worse than before. "What the hell... Is going on.." His head hurt once more. "I... can't... think straight..." He then blacked out.

_- So... This is it? This is what you saw? - Eevee said. I looked at her. Yep, I'm pretty sure this is it. - Yeah, I think so. In the dream I saw my self using this thing. - I pulled the weird golden metal thing. - And what do you with that? - I looked at the giant stone doors. I saw this in my dream. We were able to find this place near Mt. Bristle. There was a rock formation near it. - Well at this point the dream... -_

Everything went black.

* * *

**The next morning...**

- Eric wake up! Come on! - Eric woke up suddenly. He felt his fur wet. He looked at his side to see Eevee sitting next to her, next to a wooden bucket. He looked out the window. It was morning. - What, what happened? - Eevee sighed in relief. - You didn't wake before me, so I decided to prank you and threw a bucket of water on you. When you didn't wake up... - Eric continued. - You panicked and you tried to wake me up anyway possible. I guess I should thank you... -

They walked out of the room. Chatot told them that they had one day off left. The next day they would return to their normal labours. Eric's arm should be better to the point to be able to move it freely next morning. They walked around Treasure Town for half an hour. Eric had been thinking the whole time about his dream. He felt like... He knew the place they had visited in his dream!

- Say Eevee. Do you know where Mt. Bristle is? - Eevee looked at him. - Mt. Bristle? Yeah. Why do you want to know? - Eric told Eevee about his dream. - That sounds like a really interesting dream. We don't really have anything to do today, so how about we check out the place? I have the feeling that the place you saw in your dreams exists. - Eric looked at her. He smiled, happy to know that Eevee didn't think he was crazy.

After walking around in town and buying some thing, they parted the way their Wonder map told them Mt. Bristle was. Not so far away from the road, inside some bushes, a pokemon watched them. "Mt. Bristle eh? I'll need to deal with them later. Now I need to talk with my good old friends..." He smiled to him and turned to the unconscious bodies of pokemon, he grabbed them and dragged them down the road...

* * *

- So... This is it? - Said Eevee, who was looking at the rock formation in front of them. - This is what you saw in your dream? - They were circling around the rock. "It had to be around here... There!" - Over there! Do you see it? - That was a stupid question, of course she did! She of course saw the gigantic rock door that stood on one side of the rock! Some strange markings on it only made it more obvious. - Wow... You were right after all! -

"Yeah... But, how come no one has ever found this place if it is so obvious?" - We need to find a way in Eric. Do you know how to get in there? - Eric tried to remember what he saw. - Yeah, I think so. - He pulled the golden thing out of his bag. - I saw my self using this thing. - I looked at it and then at the door. - And what do you do with that? - I looked at the doors. - Well at this point my dream ended. So I have absolutely no idea. Maybe it has to do something with the markings. -

I approached the doors with the metal thing in my hand. I looked at the markings. There were some lines over the door that made the shape of a star, surrounded by small circles with triangles inside of them. "These patterns... and that symbol... they look familiar... way too familiar. It's like I don't want to know what they are..." - Eric? Are you there? - Eric snapped out of it. - I said. What do you do with that. - Eric looked at the markings again and approached the doors.

He looked at the main star. There was nothing out of the ordinary in it, other than it was white. He looked at the circles around it. There were five circles that he could reach to. The other five were on the upper part of the door. He looked at the five lower ones. Once he inspected them closer he noticed that there was a gap inside of the lowest circle. It's shape resembled the one of the weird gold thing. He looked at another one, it had another gap, but it had another shape. "Does it mean there's multiple of these?"

So? Did figure out something? - Eric nodded and inserted the gold thing into the gap. It fit perfectly. He slowly backed away from the door as dark purple lines appeared on the surface of the gold thing. The lines quickly spread out as they started covering the white lines and heading to the centre, where the star was. Slowly, the star turned a dark purplish colour as well as the other nine circles. The ground started shaking violently, as the door started opening, the gigantic slabs of stone moving into the rock, revealing a pathway down to the ground.

Eric and Eevee looked at each other. They nodded and then proceeded into the stairwell. After them, the doors closed.

"What? Where did they go?" The pokemon approached the side of the rock. There was nothing there. "They were here a moment ago... Maybe they went somewhere... What if they have already found it, and now they are reporting at their base..." The pokemon tensed up. His magnificent collection, discovered. "No, I mustn't let this happen. I must find them!" He ran ext to the rock formation, heading back to Treasure Town.

**Eric's POV**

The doors closed behind us. It was pitch black now and I couldn't even see my own paw in front of my face. - Great... Light up your orb Eeve- Suddenly a large number of dark purple colour torches lit up on the walls of the stairs. They didn't lit up too much, but they were better than nothing. I looked at Eevee and she looked at me. We then looked at the stairs going down into the earth. - Shall we? - Eevee nodded. I decided to go first.

The deeper we went, the darker it got, even if there were torches lighting our way. It was starting to remind me of Drenched Bluff, which was a memory I didn't want to remember. I looked at Eevee, she looked very stressed, and I couldn't blame her, I was getting pretty nervous too. A few minutes later we arrived at the end of the stairs, it was pretty dark now. We walked a few steps before I heard something behind us. A stone slab fell behind us, blocking our way back to the stairs.

Oh come on! Something else? - I said, before the torches died. I could feel Eevee glaring at my soul, trying to stab me with her glare, even in the darkness. - Oh great... Turn on your orb Eevee. - I turned my on my orb first, letting her see where we were. We kept walking for a while... nothing happened. The deeper we went, the more I didn't want to be in there. I looked at Eevee and noticed she was shaking like a leaf. She was scared, but why?

Something wrong Eevee? - She was shaking more now. - He... he... talked to me... - I looked at her. - Who? Who talked with you Eevee? - She turned around slowly, and looked behind us. Even in the dim light I could see her eyes widen. - D... D... Dad? - "Eric... Eric... Do you remember me Eric?" I turned around. I looked down the hallway. The light didn't let me see too far, but I could see someone down the hallway. He was standing on two feet.

"Eric... Do you remember me?" He walked forward, the light reached to him. His purple fur was covered in scars and... Blood. He was walking in a really weird fashion, only moving his right foot, and dragging his left one across the ground. - N.. No... I... Why... Why are you... Why are you here?! - The light showed his shape now, his tail ended in a giant hand. "Aipom..." I thought.

"Remember me Eric? You did this to me... You killed me. You know it. Even if they told you I was in a really bad shape, down in your heart, you know you killed me. And you know you enjoyed it... Now... I'm going to return the favour Eric... I'm going to make you... Suffer..." He then started laughing. I was out of words. I couldn't move, I was paraliced by what I could only describe as fear. No, it was more than that. It was guilt. I knew what I had done. And now... it was time to pay...

**Eevee's POV**

"So, little girl, did you think you could outrun me forever? You know that your mother died because of you. Deep in your heart. The guilt that has consumed you for years, which you only attribued to me... You should have never been born. Nothing would've ever happened if you had never existed. I must compensate for my mistake... of letting you live..." He started approaching me and Eric. - No... You... You can't be here! How... How did you find me?! - I screamed, I started to back away.

He chuckled. - Why? Because I never lost you. I have been watching forever, just as _you _thought. You will never scape me!" He started running our way. - NO! ERIC, RUN! - Eric seemed to be lost, looking at my father, but quickly snapped out of it and started running with me. We kept running. I could hear Eric muttering something about his fault or something. We needed to get out of there, fast. I looked behind us, my father was there, chasing us.

Faster! We need to get away from him! - I shouted. Eric was struggling to keep running. - It's... no... use... - He fell to the ground. - ERIC! - I ran up next to him. - Come on! We need to keep going! - Eric was panting heavily, he tried to stand up on his feet, before he fell down to his knees. - I.. can't... keep... running... from him... It's my fault... I killed him. - "What? He killed my father? When?" I heard my father laugh. "So, even your friend gives up his hope, who could have thought that Eric would be so weak? You thought you had someone to trust, someone who would be your friend, but he is just a weakling, just like always were."

I noticed something. Something that didn't make sense. - How do you know his name? - He stopped. - I listened to it in your conversations. - He stuttered in his words. A thought started stirring in my mind. "Could it be that..."

**General POV**

How do you know his name? - Eevee said. Eric looked at her. He then looked at Aipom. "I never told him my name... Is she talking to him? How?" - Look at Eevee, hallucinating, she has really lost hope now. Why don't you stop running? There's no way you can get away from you punishment. - Something weird happened again. Aipom's voice echoed, and it didn't sound as him. To Eevee, his father's voice echoed too, but she recognised the other voice, it was from the pokemon that had attacked them in Drenched Bluff.

Eevee thought about everything that had happened. His father appearing out of nowhere, knowing about everything she had done and her fears. There was no mistake now. - Eric! Don't listen to them. He's just an illusion! Don't listen to him! Eric! - "Don't listen to her! You cannot run from your fate! Now die!" The illusion charged. Eric stood on his feet. - Eevee... We need to beat him... - The illusion was now deforming into a much different shape: The closer it got, the taller it got, leaving a weird trail behind it that looked like a cape. His eyes know glowing bright red, he got closer and closer. Eric and Eevee braced for impact... That never came.

Everything they felt was a gust of wind, before they both heard. - You can never scape your fates, remember that. - With that, their light orbs died. They were now in complete darkness again. A few seconds later a loud rumble was heard, a line of light appearing in the darkness as a door opened slowly, revealing a new room.

* * *

- Wow... What is this place? - Eevee said. They proceeded into the new massive room, all of it in the shade except the centre, where a platform with the shape of a circle rose, a few steps raising to it. In the centre stood an altar, where the symbol from the door was shining. Eric walked up to it and climbed on. Once he got on it the light under his feet died, the whole room sinking in darkness again. - Oh come on not again... - Said Eric, obviously annoyed.

Suddenly, words written in an strange language started appearing on the floor everywhere except on the altar, where the symbol started glowing again, this time a purplish dark tone, while the words on the floor were pure white. Eric tried to climb off, but found him self unable to move. His feet wouldn't respond. Eevee was looking around as the words started appearing on the floor in a circular fashion, surrounding the whole ground with markings.

Once the floor was filled with words, the walls started glowing, revealing odd shapes in a chunk of the wall. Eric and Eevee looked at the shaped as they lit up: A strange bipedal being with wings made of what looked like bones descended from a hoe in the sky, hundreds of smaller shapes cowering in fear. Next chunk showed the being wielding a sword on one of his hands, aiming to the right of the vision, where what looked like an army of deformed shapes cahrged at the smaller shaped, running in the opposite direction.

"What... A war?" The markings on the walls weren't showing them a story, they were _telling _them. As soon as they saw each shape, they knew what it meant. The small shaped were the pokemon, running from the army of demons brought by the creature. The next part lit up and showed yet another figure descending from the skies, this one wielding a staff. He had come to face the other one, who was looking at him with hatred and wielding two swords now.

"Who... Are these... Creatures? Are they.. gods?" The last part of the walls lit up, as they shwed the first creature being sucked into a spiral, while a large number of different shapes, including the other creature that fell from the sky, surrounding him. And then, right beyond them, seven gears surrounded them. Five of them a blueish colour, the one at the top, pure white, and the one bottom left was completely black, barely visible.

Eevee gasped, as she had recognised he gear shaped around the whole light show. "The time gears? Could this be the legend? But... why is it here?" Eric was looking at the whole light show in awe. "What the hell is this?" The cravings showed up for a few seconds before the markings turned a dark purplish colour. The words rose to the top of the room. Where a symbol lit up. It looked like a sun, but the lines that were swirling around it faded when they got too far from it.

Eric's right arm suddenly began to rise against his will, he flinched in pain, but he was shocked as he saw how his bandages were torn off his arm. The purple lights turning into white as they started shining brightly, so much that they had to close their eyes. Eric felt like something grasped his arm, grabbing it and holding it in place. He then felt it was burning in certain parts. He screamed in agony before the light engulfed the whole room. Eric heard Eevee scream something before the world went black and mute.

**I hope you liked the new chapter, things are certainly getting interesting now. The next chapter will be uploaded next week (maybe, if life doesn't want to be a dingus again...) Also review if you see anything wrong with the chapter it self, I want to correct any mistakes in it. Thanks a lot for reading, see you on the next one.**


	8. Chapter 7 - Dispute

**Remember when I said that I would upload this chapter this week? Even if life was a dingus? Well, life was the dingiest dingus that would ever ding, but I still managed to pull this off. This chapter is also extra sized. Probably the longest chapter of this story? Maybe not. Anyways enjoy the new super duper jumbo sized... ah whatever just enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 7 – Dispute

"Umbra... Pugnus..."

**- WAKE UP YOU SLEEPHEADS! - **Eric and Eevee shot up from their beds and looked around. They looked at the door, were they saw Chatot, who was panting very heavily, next to him, Loudred was covering his ears. - There, now you can tell them. - With this, Chatot left the room. Eric's ears were ringing, as well as Eevee's. They just looked at Loudred, confused as to what the hell happened. He just sighed. - You two wouldn't wake up, even if I screamed at the top of my lungs, when I saw this I called Chatot and... - Loudred scratched his ears. - Yeah... Anyways, come to the main room quick, you overslept. - He left the room afterwards.

- Ugh... My head is banging... - Said Eevee, who was rubbing her paws on her head. Eric's head was hurting too, so he raised his right paw and rubbed his head. - I just had the weirdest dream too... What about you Eevee? - He waited for her response... But she didn't answer. She looked at her: She was looking at him, she looked shocked. - What? Something wrong? - He lowered his right pawn.

And then he noticed.

He was moving his right arm.

He slowly lowered his eyes to his right arm.

- Oh boy... - His arm wasn't covered in bandages anymore, over it, white markings were covering his fur, and on his paw, the symbol of a star with 10 little circles surrounding it.

"It's gonna be one of those days isn't it?"

* * *

- I don't really know why, but your arm is in perfect shape, just as if anything ever happened to it. It doesn't really matter since it was supposed to be in good shape today, so it shouldn't really bother you. - Chimecho lowered his arm, he inspected his side. - Hmmm. Your side looks like it's in it's best shape too. - She backed away and approached the door. - Overall, you look in perfect shape, but you should still take one day off, just for sure. I'll tell Chatot about your condition. -

Before she left the room, Eric spoke. - Hey, Chimecho. Can I ask you something? - Chimecho turned to him. - If it's about the weird tattoo, I've told you already: It wasn't there when we bandaged your arm up, so I don't know where it came from. - Eric nodded. - I wasn't going to ask you about that though. I was about to ask how you can check how my arm is doing just by looking at it. -

Chimecho chuckled. - Well, I just used my Heal Bell to check your status, so it isn't something really weird. - Eric tilted his head. - Heal Bell? What's that? - Chimecho stared at him. - An ability? Come on don't you learn that at school? - Eric stared at her. She then remembered. - Oh right... Amnesia... Hehehe... Sorry. - She chuckled nervously. Eevee couldn't help but laugh a little bit, and Eric just sighed. - Well? What the hell is an ability then? -

- Well... I can't really help you with that... But I know someone that can! That would be Electrivire, go check him out at his place in treasure town... If you still know where that is... - Eric looked at her. - OI! - She quickly left the room both her and Eevee laughing. Eric just groaned "Why did I have to wake up..."

* * *

- Hey, you are Mick's friends aren't you? - Eric and Eevee nodded. - K' then. Mick's and Milly's friends are friends of mine. So what do you guys want? - Eric and Eevee looked at eachother. - Well... Could you tell me about abilities... - Electrivire looked at them, he looked a little confused, raising an eyebrow. - I know, it's a weird question. But could you please help me? -

Electrivire looked at him. - Well OK then, why not, it's not like I get a lot of clients nowadays anyways... - He looked kind of down for a second, but he instantly tried to cover it up. - OK, then. I will help you, and since you guys know Mick, I'll charge him for everything. - Eric and Eevee looked at him. He just smiled. - OK, then first of all, we need to go to somewhere else, since I don't have enough space here for training you. - He walked out of his stall. - Follow me – He then started walking down the road.

Eric and Eevee followed him, while they were walking Eevee turned to Eric. - Hey Eric. Do you like my ribbon? - She lowered her head as she showed Eric her new ribbon, which he had actually bouth her before they met up with Electrivire. Eric couldn't help but laugh. - Of course I do! Why wouldn't I but it for you then? - Eevee blushed a little. - Yeah I guess that's right. - It was a white ribbon, in the middle of it a blue jewel that had the shape of an hexagon.

After a few minutes of walking they entered a weird looking building. Once they entered they saw a Marowak. He turned around to look at the door. - Huh?! What? Visitors? - He ran up to them. - Finally! Someone turned up to do some training! Welcome to the Marowak Dojo what can I help you with? -

Electrivire walked up to him. - You know what you can help me with... - Marowak looked at the electric type. - Electro? What are you doing here? Been a long time! Even though our shops are in the same town... - They both laughed after that. After they stopped Marowak looked at Eric and Eevee. - And who might you be? - Eric and Eevee presented themselves to the pokemon. After that Electrivire told him what they wanted to do.

- Hmmmm... I will help you yeah. Just don't break anything, you know what happened last time... - With that he went inside a door. - What happened last time? - Asked Eric. Electrivire just sighed. - You don't even want to know... - Marowak came back a few moments later, carrying some kind of practice dummies. He set them down in the centre of the room. - Alright then. Who's going to be up first? - Eric walked forward. - I don't really need that much training though, I know my moves. - Eevee said, and walked to a side of the room, next to where Marowak was standing. She then sat on the floor.

- OK then. Now Eric, you are going to have to endure a bit... - He moved both his tails to each side of Eric. Eric was confused before he got zapped by a stream of lighting come off them. A few moments later Electrivire stopped. Eric was lying on the ground, a bit dazed out. - Ughhhh... What the hell... - He coughed twice before standing up. - What was that for... - He coughed again. - man... - He felt sore. He heard Eevee was chuckling. - Sorry Eric, had to do that, know I know what moves you can use. -

- Alright. First of all, I saw that you could use Scratch, so first of all, I need you to tense up your paws, so you I can see the state your claws are. - Eric nodded. - OK, now tense your paws. - Eric did as he was told, claws came up from his fingers almost intantly. - Alright, let me see... - Electrivire inspected his claws.

- Weird, your claws look like they have never been used... If you look at other claws, you would see that some of them have dents because they have been used for something, but yours look perfectly. Not even used a single time... - Eric was surprised. "I have never used my claws? That is weird, consider how good of a fighter I am..." - Anyways, see that target dummy? - He pointed at the dummy in the middle of the room, Eric nodded. - Slash it. -

Eric looked at the dummy and smiled. After entering a fight stance, he charged for the dummy. Once he got close enough, he slashed away at the dummy: One, two,three... threee slashes cut of his claws cut through the thing like it was made out of paper. The dummy fell to the floor, shredded to pieces. Both Marowak and Eevee looked at the destroyed dummy lying on the ground. - Holy bones... Never in my years of training, I've seen someone cut through those dummies with such ease... -

Electrivire was the only one tha was keeping his cool though. - OK, looks like that wa easy enough. Now onto more specific moves. You are a Riolu, a fighting type. Because of this, you should know a lot of fighting moves. Let's start with a fairly basic one : Force Palm.

* * *

Eric ran up to the already beat up dummy. He kicked it once with all his might before quickly lowering his left leg and kicking it again with his right leg, all done in quick succession. The dummy was launched to wall afterwards, crashing and breaking into pieces. Marowak sighed. "There goes another one..." He muttered under his breath, low enough so only Eevee heard him, she just chuckled at Marowak's comment.

- There, that's Double Kick. So far we know that you can perfectly perform Scratch, Force Palm, Double Kick and amazingly enough, Zen Headbut, being a Psychic type move, I wasn't sure if you would be able to pull it out. -Electro said. Eric looked at him. - Are those all of the moves? - Electrivire tried to remember what the spark pulse had told him. - Well... You could learn how to use Aura Sphere... But I can't do that, only a Lucario could teach you that. -

- Aura Sphere? What's that? - Eric asked, he clearly liked the name of the move. - Well, basically you gather up some kind of energy Lucarios call "Aura" and then you launch it to an enemy. It's a very strong move, but it's really hard to learn. But also, that's now the only thing. And this is what bothers me the most... - Electrivire re-checked his memory. - If I'm not wrong you could also learn a new move... That you can't physically use by yourself. -

Eric looked at him. - Whaaat? - "What the hell does he mean by that?" - Please be more clear. - Marowak rose from the ground were Eevee and him were sitting, they had watched the whole training, which had lasted at least 4 good hours. - What do you mean that he can't use it? What move is it? - Electrivire looked at the bone keeper pokemon. - From what the spark pulse told me, he can use Shadow Punch, which is not an ability Riolus learn at all. - Marowak looked at him. - Weird... Say Eric? Anything weird happened to you lately? -

"Oh if only you knew" He thought as he remembered what had happened yesterday. He looked at the back of his paw. - Well... Nothing too interesting. - He lied, he didn't want everyone knowing about all that happened around him. - Huh... Well maybe you are just wrong Electro. - Electrivire quickly responded. - No. I felt it, he has shadow type energy inside him. He can use it. I just don't know how... -

While they were both arguing about this, Eric approached Eevee. - Well what do you think? Is he wrong or could I really use a move like that? - Eevee looked at him and shrugged. - I dunno, weird things have happened lately and you are kind of weird... no offense. - Eric sighed. - None taken... - Eevee smiled and continued. - But maybe you could use it. After what happened yesterday, and then that weird tattoo on your back paw, I don't really know. -

Eric then remembered something. - Speaking of yesterday, do you remember when we came back to the guild? - Eevee shook her head. - Thought so. Looks like we somehow made it back from there and we don't know how. Last thing I remember was sleeping on the bed and having some kind of weird dream... "Umbra Pugnus... Umbra... That word... It sounds so weird and yet... I've heard it before... I just know it... But where?"

Something clicked inside his mind then. He rose from the ground. - Hey! You two! - Electrivire and Marowak looked at him. - Do any of you guys know what Umbra means? - Marowak looked at him. - Umbra? - He thought about it for a sec. - Nope, doesn't ring any bell. And you Electro? - Electrivire thought about it too. - Well... It does sound familiar... But I don't remember what it means... Oh wait. I think it means shadow. But... how do you know a word like that? -

"And how do you know the meaning of something like that? That's what I want to know!" Eric ignored his thoughts. - Well... I want to try something out. Can you put another dummy Marowak? - Marowak sighed... again. "Wow, all this guy is doing today is sighing" He thought as he saw Marowak come in with the fifth dummy that day. He looked behind him at the wall, where a mess of wood was lying. "Can't blame him though..."

- OK... This is the last one I'm bringing in for free. If you break it you pay it. - He glared at Electro, who just shrugged. - OK then... - He said. "Alright, let's just hope I'm now doing the most idiotic thing ever. If I remember the first dream I had. There were those guys that were screaming weird words. And then stuff happened around them, or lit stuff on fire. If this works like those "words" did..." He looked at Electrivire, who staring at him. He was curious of what he was going to do. "You better be opening that wallet Electro..." He then smirked.

- Alright, here goes nothing... - He tensed up and then charged at the dummy. He raised his right paw, clanching it into a fist over his head and prepared to deliver the attack. Once he was close to the dummy, he shouted out loud. - Umbra Pugnus! - His fist landed on the dummy's face, who just moved back a few inches.

Eric looked perplexed. - Huh? - "That wasn't supposed to happen... Did I miss something?" - Eric what in the world are you doing, screaming off weird words? - Marokaw said. He wasn't annoyed, but he more so found the situation funny. Electro was watching Eric, trying to analyse what he was doing, so was Eevee.

- Ugh... I need to try that again... - Eric went back to the middle of the room. He tensed up and charged for the dummy again. - **Umbra pugnus! -** He punched the dummy again. The dummy moved a few more inched again, it looked like it wasn't really doing much at all. Marowak couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing. - What the hell are you doing? First you ask for waird words, then you start screaming them and punching dummies? What, do you think something weird is going to happen? Abilities aren't used by screaming something out loud. You need to now what the move consists of. -

Eric went back to the center and turned to Electro. - Do you know what Pugnus means? - Electro looked at him. - I would think it means punch. - "Hmmm. Umbra Pugnus means Shadow Punch then? That's too much of a coincidence now isn't it?" - And what does Shadow Punch look like? Electro thought about it for a few seconds, but Marowak was faster than him. - Basically, a ghost type pokemon throw their punch at another pokemon, but it looks transparent. Why don't you try it? See if you can do it. - He then laughed a little bit.

Eric frowned. Marowak was really getting at his nerves now. He tensed up and yet again charged for the dummy, screaming Umbra Pugnus into the air. The punch had the same effect as the other ones did: A simple, normal, weak punch. Marowak lost it at the ridiculous attempts of Eric of doing an ability that he clearly couldn't use. - Come on dude. Give up already! It's not like you could even use it! . Electro walked up. - Yeah, maybe I'm just wrong Eric. Just let it go, it may just be a mistkae on my part. - "Oh not you too now...!" - Oh so that's how it goes then eh? - Eric went back to the centre. - Maybe I'll just imagine the dummy with one of your faces on it! See if it works that way! -

Marowak just kept laughing. Eric was mad right now. Clenching his fists way harder than he should. He looked at the dummy. He focused on what he was attempting to do. "What ever Shadow Pumnch is... I need to do it." He looked at Marowak and Electro. Who was trying to get Marowak to calm down. "Even if they don't believe me" Breathed slowly. He tnsed up and charged for the dummy. Once he was close enough, he threw a punch at it, before screaming louder than before. - _**Umbra Pugnus! **_-

In that precise instant, dark mist covered Eric's fist right before it landed on the dummy. Time seemed to slow down as he saw how the dummy's wooden head was crippled in pieces. But that wasn't all that happened to the dummy. The dummy was launched forwards at a tremendous speed that was high enough to actually break a couple of the bones that were hanging on the wall where it landed... Right before seeing how said wall crumbled down. After a few seconds, all that was left of said wall was just a pile of rubble and plaster.

Eric looked at the mess in front of him. He was shocked at what just a simple punch from his fist had done. He only thing he had done different was just scream some words. He truned around. Electro and Marokaw had stopped talking and where now looking at the remainings of the wall, shocked. Eevee was also shocked, but she also seemed to be a little bit... - That was awesome! - She screamed at the top of her lungs, obviously excited. - Ummmm... I... meant to do that... -

* * *

- That wasn't shadow punch or any move I know of I can assure you that. There's now way you could break that wall, which, by the way, had been rebuilt recently, with just some kind of dark punch and a wooden dummy. It just... - Electro shook his hands around. Trying to express both his frustration and awe. - Doesn't work like that! - They were walking away from the dojo. They had left after Marowak told them to leave, he wanted them to leave him alone.

"He. He really didn't believe when I told him that I could do it. Still..." he looked back at the dojo. "Kinda feel sorry for the guy. At least he doesn't have to buy the materials from his money..." Eevee was mad at Eric. - Why would you break his wall! Now we've got to pay it! - Eric just sighed. - Yeah I know. And we need to pay it with our money. - Eevee still kept up with the argument, even though she could have left it a while ago. - Which by the way, we don't have! Any bright ideas mister demolisher? -

Eric was getting angry at the fox pokemon. - Well, do YOU have an ideas, Miss "That was awesome!"? Back there you didn't look like it mattered to you back there! - Eric responded to her, a clear tone of anger in his voice. - Hpmh! I just hadn't realized that you had just BROKEN someone's house! - Eevee replied quickly. - Well I'm sorry for using I move I had NO idea I could use! - Eric was just getting angrier and angrier at the pokemon now.

- Well why weren't you MORE CAREFULL THEN?! Could have saved us a lot of trouble! Now he probably hates us for that! - Eevee bursted. She was clearly as mad as Eric was, even more. Eric stopped for a moment. - Well I'm sorry for following you idea! This morning you were all like: "Let's go to Electrivire, he can help you figure this stuff out!" So it's your fault all of this happened! -

Electro couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle those two were giving. They both turned to him at the same time. - What's so funny? - Eevee said. She was glaring daggers at him. - You two guys look like a couple having an argument. Anyone ever told you that? - He instantly reretted saying those words. - **NO! **- They both shouted in unison.

- I've only known this dumb face for 2 weeks! I even saved his life! - Eevee said. Electrivire's comment had pushed her over the limit now, and was as mad as she could be. - You what?! I could have easily gotten my ass out of that beach when ever I woke up! You just arrived at the very moment I woke up! Nothing about saving my live now is there?! - Eric shouted. - Also, speaking of saving! Let me remind you that I helped you with your little Stone Relic problem?! I think it's you that owes ME something! -

Eevee was now gritting her teeth. - Oh yeah?! I wonder what could've happened if I didn't bite Aipom's leg when he attacked you! He mightn't just killed you then and there! - Electrivire saw where all of this was going, and he didn't like a single bit of it. - Guys just calm down we can sort th – He cut short when Eric screamed at Eevee's face. - Well look who's talking! SOMEONE WHO CAN'T EVEN LOOK BACK AT HER OWN FAMILY! -

Eevee stood there. Shocked. Frozen. Demolished. Betrayed. All these thoughts crossing her mind at the same time. - You... You... - Tears started to well up on her face. Just then, Eric calmed down and noticed what he had just said. A horrified look starting to show up on his face. He looked at Eevee. - Eevee... I'm... -

Eevee attacked him then. She threw him to the ground. He rose his head from the ground to see Eevee staring at him, tears falling from her eyes. - **I HATE YOU! - **She then ran away, leaving a trail of tears behind her. - Wait! - Eric tried to shout, but she didn't listen, she just ran until she was out of view.

"Oh no..." - What have I done... - He muttered. Electro was just standing there, silent. - Eric... I... - Eric quickly cut him off. - Go home Electro... Just... Leave me alone... - Electro stood there for a few seconds before he walked away. When he left Eric was still lying on the ground, looking at the sky, and thinking about what just happened. "Fuck... What am I going to do now..." He covered his paws with his face, and just laid there, thinking.

"Heh... You don't know what to do now..." He thought, as he looked at the Riolu lying on the ground. "But I sure as hell know what I am going to do now..." He then looked at the trail of tears. "But first... He looked at the small bag next to him. "I need a little distraction..." He then smiled to him self, as he walked to the main plaza.

* * *

Mick and Milly were walking around Treasure Town, talking to pokemon they knew and getting to know new faces. - You know... - Milly said. Mick looked at her. - What? - Milly smiled. - What do you think if we moved here? - Mick thought about it. - Here? Treasure Town? - She nodded. - Well... I can't see why we can't. Also there's way too many... Memories, back at our place. -

She remembered the memories he was referring to. - Yeah. It would be nice if he we could just forget about that. And... you know.. start fresh here... - Milly didn't know how to tell him. She was hoping he was getting the hint of what she was referring to. - Start Fresh? What do you mean by starting fresh? - He asked. She wasn't really talking about him and her being... He shook the thought off his head. "Nah. It can't be like that..." He looked at her. "Can it?"

She then stopped on the road, as she saw someone lying on the ground ahead of them. "What? Where did that guy come from?" - Hey Mick, do you see that? - She pointed at the pokemon in front of them. He looked at it. - Yeah I do. Who's that lying on the road? He's going to catch a cold... or worse. - He said, as he approached the sleeping pokemon, Milly right after him. Once they got close to him, Mick shook it's shoulder. It looked like a pachirisu.

- Oi. Someone home? Hey! You awake pal? - He shook the pokemon another time, making fall from it's side and face upward. - WHAT THE... - His shout was cut short by Milly's scream.

* * *

Eric rose from the ground as soon as he heard someone screaming. - What the... - "Could it be... Oh fuck..." He rose from the ground and bolted to wehre the scream had come from. In a bush not too far from there a pokemon smirked. - It's now or never... - He quickly left, following the trail of tears.

Eric arrived at the plaza a few moments later. A large group of pokemon surrounding the middle. He tried his best to make it through the walls of observers. - Excuse me. Coming through. Sorry. - After a while he finally got to the first row, where pokemon were covering their eyes and horror faces showed on their faces. He looked at the middle, where he saw some familiar faces.

- Milly, Mick! - Mick was at the centre and Milly was right beside him, kneeing at the ground. He was hugging her, their eyes filled with tears. - What happened? - He then saw it. Behind Mick and Milly, liying on the ground...

Laid the body of a dead pachirisu.

* * *

Eevee was sitting on the beach, crying. She couldn't believe what had just happened. "Why would he... Why..." He was remembering his words, how he screamed at her, and how she replied to him...

It was horrible to say the least for her.

For the last few years, no one had listened to her and didn't to be her friend. Everyone just saw her as a weakling, a pokemon that lived alone, afraid of everything. She felt all alone in the world. And then...

He appeared.

He helped her when she was in trouble. He had listened to her. He had been a friend. A friend that she never had. She didn't feel alone in the world since he met him.

And now...

He had betrayed her. She had trusted him with one of her deepest secrets. And it didn't even take him a day to blow it back in her face again.

She couldn't stand it.

She hated him.

She felt like someone had popped the bubble she was living in, a bubble where she saw the whole words from a different perspective. And that someone...

Was the one that had showed her the world through other eyes.

"Was it because of my fault? I blamed him for breaking that wall... But in reality he didn't even know how strong the attack was... And I just went ahead and made him look like the bad guy... When it was actually me who had started the argument..." She kept crying. "I'm such an idiot... The one pokemon that had been kind to me... And I just go ahead and throw him off... I'm such a moron..."

She remembered what she had told him. Her words... Only made him angrier and angrier and eventually... "It's all my fault... I shouldn't have started speaking about that..." She sat there for a few minutes, crying. She then felt something pop near her head. She looked up, and saw a large number of bubbles, floating around. The Krabbies were making bubbles at the sunset, just as they always did.

The sun was now setting in the horizon. The light of the sunset reflecting on the bubbles, creating a magic spectacle that only she knew about. She always came to that place when she felt down. She then remembered, that it was just a day like this, that she met him. She looked at the place where he had been lying, unconscious. "I need to apologize to him... I'll have to look for him... No, I'll meet him later at the guild, at dinner." She smiled. She didn't know why, but that place always cheered her up.

After watching the sunset she started feeling uneasy. She felt like something was wrong. She looked around. She then noticed the the Krabbies where gone. There were no more bubbles in the air. She didn't worry about it though. Maybe they had just left because they were tired. "Maybe I should head back to the guild..." - How about you don't! - She turned around, to see who was the source of that voice. But she then felt something hit her on the back of the head, and fell to the ground.

- Sleep tight little girl. You are going to have a loooong day tomorrow. - The voice then just laughed. The last thing she saw before she blacked out, was a pair of long, yellow arms, dragging her across the sand. Her ribbon falling from her head.

* * *

- Man... I still can't believe nobody saw that! - Loudred shouted... Loudly as always. - Hey! Yeah! That's some scary stuff you are talking about there mate! Hey! - Said Corpish. He was sitting around the dinner table of the guild, just as everyone was. They were having dinner when Mick, Milly and Eric told them what happened before in town.

- It's still weird... How come none of you saw who put the body there? If someone dropped someone's dead body in the middle of the plaza someone is at least bound to see who did it. - Mick shook his head. - Nope. No one saw anything. Officer Magnezone asked everyone, but no one saw anything. They took the body so they could identify the victim, since he isn't from around here. -

- Maybe he's from a forest nearby? - Chatot said. They began discussing the possible origin of the pokemon. Eric though, didn't join into the conversation though.

- Hey Loudred... - Loudred turned to Eric. - What is it? - Eric looked worried. - Do you know where Eevee is? - Loudred thought for a second. - Eevee? Wasn't her with you today? - Eric frowned. - Yeah but... We kinda had a little... fight. And she want somewhere. I want to apologize to her. Do you know where she is? - Loudred tried to remember is he had seen Eevee that day. - Nope. She hasn't come into the guild since you left. And me and Digglet where doing sentry duty today. So we should know. -

- Hmmmm. Are pokemon allowed to leave the guild at night? - Loudred looked at him. - You gonna go looking for her? - Eric nodded. - I couldn't apologize to her before. And I need to find her. I've got a really bad feeling. - Loudred stared at him for a while. Considering what had happened before in the plaza, Eric was right about having a bad feeling. With a psychopath out there, anything could happen.

- Well... You can't really do that. But if you try to leave now maybe you could sneak out. - Eric smiled. - Alright, just hold the door open for when we come okay? - Loudred nodded. - Ok then, I'm off. See you later. - Eric patted him on the back and left the mess hall. Fortunately, everyone was so focused in the argument that no one noticed him.

* * *

- Shit, I need to find her. - He looked at the moon. - But it's getting pretty late... - He had just come back from town. He hadn't found her anywhere. - Only one more place to check... - He looked at the steps that led down to the beach. "I hope she's there..."

He walked down and arrived at the beach. The moon was shining in the sky, and it's shape was reflecting on the water. The peaceful sound of the waves crashing against the rocks gave the beach a lonely look.

"Note to self: I've ever down. Come to this place at night. Most beautiful sight ever." He began looking around the beach. After a while of searching he noticed something shining on the sand. He approached it and lifted it. It was made out of silk. Upon inspecting it closer he saw what it was.

It was Eevee's ribbon.

"So she was here!" I need to find her as soon as possible, I need to apol-"

Pain.

His head began to hurt like hell. It wasn't like anyone had hit him on the head. No. It was a headache. But it felt... familiar. It felt like it had happened to him before. But where?

The headache started hurting more than before. Then he remembered. Not so long ago, with that piece of metal thatw as in his bag. He had a dream where he could see the future.

He wanted to get back to the guild. Butg he pain in his head was way too much to bear that he fell flat on the sand, right there and there, and driffted off to sleep.

* * *

_- YOU WILL REGRET THE DAY YOU EVER TRIED TO DEFY ME, ERIC. THIS HAS BEEN YOUR LAST MISTKAE IN YOUR SHORT LIFE... - The pokemon picked a rock from the water and raised it above my head. - NOW DIE! - He said, as I saw him bring down a rock on my head, the rock splattering and squashing my head. Blood spwing everywhere. Eevee wasn't even moving at that point. She just watched how she was bringing that rock down again... and again... and again... On **my head. My head.**_

* * *

Eric woke up abruptly. "What the hell?" He looked at the sky. The sun was starting to rise. "What was that just now? Was that just a normal dream? Or was it a premonition from the future? If that is the case then... No... I can't seriously... I need to find Eevee... But I need help. I'll go back to the guild for now. I need to figure out where the... where that took place."

With that, he rose from the sand and rushed to the guild. He still couldn't believe what he had dreamed off.

**WOW. This chapter was fun to make. Now we are getting into much more different stuff than the original story. Before any of you go asking "Is that yellow pokemon Drowzee?" No. He isn't. He's a much more wicked and terrfiying outlaw. Who is it? Also what was up with that dream? Everything in due time( And by that I mean next week probably). As always, point out any mistakes in the chapter and feel free to review and express your opinions. Thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 8 - The Collector

**A few things I forgot to mention last chater, thank you for your support guys, it really makes me happy that people like the story so far. Also, the language Eric spoke in to use Shadow Punch was Latin. The more you know. Anyways, on with the chapter.**

Chapter 8 – The Collector

Eevee slowly opened her eyes. She felt like she was lying on something soft. Like... Sand. "What happened? Where am I?" She then remembered all that happened yesterday. "Oh no... I need to get out of here. Now!" She tried to get up, but her legs wouldn't respond. She groaned in pain, as her head began to hurt. That bastard hat hit her hard.

- Don't even try to move. - Said a voice. She looked around, dragging her head across the sand and looking in the few directions she could look at. She then saw him. - If you try to get away I will have to get rid of you. And that would be a terrible loss. Also, your friend is on the way. - "Your friend? Eric?" - Where... am I... - She tried to speak, but she was so weak, her voice was like a whisper. The pokemon laughed. - You shouldn't worry about that. Worry more about where you are going to now! -

The pokemon walked up to her. She kneed down to her and looked at her eyes. - Now... Sleep... - Eevee tried to close her eyes. But she couldn't stop looking at the pokemon's eyes. They were emitting a sort of pink light. She felt calm, as she slowly closed her eyes and felt her consciousness drift away.

* * *

**- WHAT?! - **Everyone at the guild shouted. Eric had just told them his dream. Well... most of it. He had intentionally avoided the last part. He didn't want anyone to worry about him. - Well... Shit what do we do now... - Loudred said. Everyonea t the guild was shocked and the story. - So who do you say it was? What pokemon had captured Eevee? - Eric tried to remember.

- Eric... You have some of the weirdest dreams ever. You know? - Loudred said. - Hey! Loudred is right. You are just worried because Eevee didn't come back yesterday, and when you fell asleep, you just had a weird nightmare, that's all. - Everyone seemed relieved at Corpish's explanation. Well, anyone but Eric.

- Then how do you explain the headache if it was just a bad dream? - He said. Chimecho quickly jumped into the conversation. - Well, one week ago you had kind of a brutal encounter. So it's only normal you have some sequels from it. - Eric gritted his teeth. "Oh for the love of Arceus! These guys just won't believe a word I say! There needs to be something I can say that may call their attention..."

The thought came to him then. "It may be a lie... or not, considering what is going on. But I have to say it..." - Wait! I forgot something I just remembered! The pokemon that attacked us in my dream was... - Everyone looked at him questionably. - Was? - Chatot said, waiting for an answer. "Alright, here goes nothing..." - He was the guy who put the body in the plaza! -

Everyone's eyes stared at him, wide open, as well as their mouths. - **WHAT?! - **Everyone screamed... Again. - How could you forget something like that?! And why didn't you tell us last night?! - "Shit, ummm... Think Eric, think!" - I didn't tell you because I was thinking about where Eevee could have gone to! - That sounds reasonable... I guess" He thought. It looked like everyone bought the lie, and at least they would at least listen to him now.

- Well then, who was it that put the body and attacked in your... Dream? - Sunflora said. Eric tried to remember the shape of the pokemon.

- Well... he was tall, his skin was yellow and... He was talking about some weird collection or something. Also, all of this was taking place somewhere rocky. - Everyone stood still for a few seconds. - You don't know what pokemon it was? - Mick said. Eric shook his head. - Nope. I haven't seen him in my book... - Eric's mind clicked. - I got it! Hold on! - He rushed into the bedroom area and headed back quickly, this time with a book in his paws.

Milly leaned to Mick's ear. - Mick... - She whispered. Mick cut her off. - I know. He's lying about the body part. It's obvious. But... - Eric began flipping through the pages of the book. - What he just said about the pokemon that he saw in his dream has called my attention. And if it is who I think it is... - Eric began pointing at any pokemon with yellow skin or fur. - We might be unto something big... -

Eric pointed at the picture of a Kadabra. - It looks like this guy... Except... he was a bit taller... - He flipped another page and he saw the picture he had been looking for. - Here! - The picture showed a yellow, tall pokemon. It's eyes were closed and he looked like he was floating in mid-air, his legs crossed. - Weird. This guy's name isn't on the page! - He was right, the pokemon's name didn't appear on the top right corner of the page.

- What is that pokemon? - Chimecho said. - I've never seen a pokemon like that around this parts! Hey! - Corpish exclaimed. Loudred looked at the picture for a second. - Chatot, do you know who this guy is? - Chatot was about to open his mouth, but he got interrupted by Mick. - Alakazam. The psychokinesis pokemon. Powerful pokemon who have mastered their psychic abilities to such an extent that their psychokinetic powers are unmatchable -

Everyone looked at him weird for a moment. - Basically, he can move stuff around by just looking at anything – Milly said. - Are you kidding me?! - Loudred said, visually alarmed by her last statement. - Someone who can move object at will? That's insane! - Chatot couldn't help but smirk. - That's psychic types for you... - He muttered. Mick turned to Eric. - Also, I know what kind of Alakazam we are going up against. - He said.

- What? You know? Who is it then? **WHOSE BUTT DO WE HAVE TO KICK?!** Come on say it already! - Everyone started asking and shouting at Mick, who didn't even get a chance to move his lips. - Alakazam, the collector. - Everyone turned to Wigglytuff, who was standing near the door to his room. - Never thought I'd have to deal with him again... - He said, and walked to the window. Staring out to the sky.

- Who? - Digglet asked. His question was quickly answered by Milly. - Alakazam the collector. One of the most wanted outlaws ever. He has been acused of robbing, murdering and many more inmoral acts... - She said, Mick continued where she left off. - But overall, he is most know for the disappearance of more than 200 pokemon over the region. - Everyone gasped at that. - **WHAT?!** - This one was louder than the others, so Eric covered his ears. "Third time they shouted that same word..."

- You mean you know him Guildmaster? - Chatot said. Wigglytuff turned to them. - I know him all to well I'm afraid. In my young days I almost caught him, but... He evaded us somehow, and instead we found some of his prisoners. We would go insane trying to find him, but to no avail. He would disappear like a ghost. -

Eric's eyes widened. - Wait... Some of them? What happened to the others? - Everyone already knew what the Guidlmaster was about to say. - Well... All of this happened about 20 years ago... Until now, none of them have been found. - "None of them? But... then... If we don't catch him that would mean..." - But we have him against the ties now if we are right. If Eric's dream is true, he's got to be somewhere around here. - He turned to Eric.

- Eric, not only is Eevee's fate hanging from a thin string, but the fate of more than 200 pokemon. And it all depends if you tell us exactly where you saw all of this happen. - Eric was more than nervous. That was a pretty big responsibility. - I need... To think about this for a second... - Eric walked to his bedroom, leaving everyone at the meeting room of the guild. The laid on his bed and tried to remember.

"Ok... Think, if I was some psychopath pokemon collector, where would I hide?" He started thinking for places. He knew that the place where he saw his dream, so it had to be a place he had already gone to. "A place with rocks and water... Where have I been that had those things? Think, think think..." He rose from the bed. "In the dream, he pulled a rock out of the water and..." He froze. He only knew one place that was both rocky and had water.

- DRENCHED BLUFF! - He shouted. Everyone turned to him as he left the room. - It's Drenched Bluff! - "It has to be, is the only place I've ever been to!" - Are you completely sure? - Wigglytuff asked. - YES! Absolutely sure! - Wigglytuff nodded. - Ok everyone, to Drenched Bluff it is! - Everyone rose their paws and rushed to the staris. Eric was happy, they had finally found out where he was hiding at... But he felt like something... was...

Wrong...

* * *

They ran out of the building and to the crossroad. Eric still felt like something was missing. Like he had skipped something... the thought crushed him. He noticed what he had missed. If he was there, it all made sense now. He decided to do something so he could have a bit more time. - Wait! - Everyone turned aroud and looked at him. - We don't know what this guy is capable of! We should get some provisions before we go! - The guild members looked at each other.

- Well... He's kind of right. We should at least stock up o some items before he head over... - Bidoof said, but was quickly interrupted by Chatot. - No! Impossible! We don't know if he could be leaving right now! We need to get there as soon as possible! - But then Sunflora jumped in. - No! Eric's right, is this guy's so powerful we could all get our asses handed to us on a silver plate! - After that everyone started arguing.

- Wait. How about this, you guys go on ahead, and I'll get some stuff. If I don't get there in about 20 minutes you go inside of the Bluff, Ok?! - Milly noticed something was wrong with Eric. "Why... Is he lying? Didn't he want to go save Eevee?" - Mick... - She whispered. Mick had also noticed the pokemon's weird behaving. - Wait. I'll go with you. You won't be ale to carry everything to there. -

Mick walked over to where Eric was standing. "Why is he lying? Could it be that he noticed something he doesn't want to tell us?" Mick was decided to figure it out. But Eric was too quick, and before he could say anything else, he ran into Treasure Town. - Rememeber! 20 minutes! - Mick tried to follow him and ran into the town, but by the time he got there, the Riolu was long gone.

- Mick come on! We need to get there ASAP! - He heard Milly shout from the crossroad. "Shit..." He had to decide. Eitehr he followed Eric or he went to Drenched Bluff. At the end, something inside told him to trust Eric in whatever he was doing. "Good luck" - Coming! - And ran back to the crossroad.

With that, he disappeared out of Eric's sight, who was hiding in a bush. He came out of his hiding place and walked to the crossroad. He looked at the way the other had just went. "Sorry guys. I would love to go with you but..." He looked at the path leading down to the beach. "Drenched Bluff isn't the only place I've gone to..."

* * *

Eric ran through beach cave as fast as he could. "He has to be here. She has to be there. If they were in Drenched Bluff, the other would most likely go inside when I don't show up." He thought, as he kept moving his feet.

But as he ran through the cave, he knew it.

This was the place he was in his dream.

After a few seconds, he got to the end of the cave, some kind of open area with a large number of rocks around it.

This was the place.

- Alakazam! Show yourself! Now! - He shouted. His words echoed around the cave, bouncing back and forward on the walls. No one appeared though. Either he was hiding or... - Alakazam the collector! Show yourself you bastard! - He shouted again. "Come on where are you... He's here, I know it!"

- Alakzam, Alakazam, come out where ever you are hiding at... - He heard a voice in the cave. The new voice started laughing maniacally. The laughter echoing around the room. Eric started looking around the room, in search of the source. After a few seconds the laughter died down. A pokemon appeared from behind the rocks. He was tall, probably double Eric's height. He was yellow, he looked kind of old, yet he still moved like he was someone important, standing upright. A wide smile across his face.

- You called? - Alakazam said. He was in the other side of the room, where as Eric was in the middle of the room. - So you are Eric right? - He said. - Heard a lot about you... - He started walking around him. - Brought down that puss of an Aipom, met a really famous exploration and... managed to break both a wall and a young girls heart. Fairly impressive that you have done this in just 2 weeks... -

- Where is she? - Eric shouted. Alakazam stopped on the spot. - She? Oh, you mean that you about her? Well isn't that a big surprise! Just hurting someone's feelings and then you go ahead and stab them in the back! - He laughed. - Oh, reminds of the good old days! Maybe you could be the next big outlaw out there! Who knows! - He shouted. - But if you want her, then have her! - He pulled something from behind the rock and threw it at Eric.

Eric couldn't react in time and the object hit him head on. He collapsed to the ground, with the thing still on him. He felt like it was warm and moving, slowly. He looked up and saw _who _it was.

- Eevee! - He shouted. He sat up and laid her down on the ground, next to the entrance. He tried to shake her awake but she didn't respond. - What have you done to her! - He stood up and looked at Alakazam, who was smiling at him, obviously finding the whole situation funny. - Nothing, I just put her to sleep. I didn't want her to intervene. - "Intervene?" - What do you mean? -

Alakzam laughed. - Well it's about time you asked that question. Why of course, intervene in my plans of course! - He started walking yet again. - Ever wondered why they called me "The collector"? - He said. Eric stood there, thinking about his answer, hehad a slight idea of what this guys did. - You kidnap pokemon, but why? - Alakazam looked at him. - Why to add them to my collection of course! - Eric frowned. - Collection?! A collection of... pokemon? -

- But of course! You see: A long time ago I noticed that there were a lot of pokemon around the whole wide world. Being a fan of collecting things since I was little, I used to collect prizes such as bones, skulls, or the heads of my victims... One day though, I noticed these were all... Partial victories. I had one piece of that pokemon, butt not the whole thing. And one day, I thought, "Well, if there's some many pokemon, why not just Catch' em all? Have a big collection of pokemon so my enemies will fear me!"And it all started like that. -

- I started with catching small pokemon first. Kids that would go away for too long from their mothers or pokemon that were out very late at night... Then I decided to take my chances, and I used my psychic abilities to kidnap a kid right in front of it's mother's eyes. Of course, she tried to run but... I couldn't take any chances. I got rid of her, and that called unwanted attention – He said, narrating his story to Eric, who was on guard for anything that he could throw at him.

- They sent an exploration team after me, and tried to get rid of me. At that point. My collection wasn't really... impressive. So I decided to take this to my advantage. I lead them to a trap and captured that team. A little after, another one came, and after I captured that one, a new one... They just kept giving me pokemon! I couldn't take down their generous offerings! - He shouted, a smile of happyness spreading across his face, but that quickly faded out.

- But... Since I was getting so many new additions into my collection, I was bound to get repeats one time or the other. Those I would simply... Dispose of. After I was done killing the repeats, I would take the survivors, if they were any, to my base. Little by little, my collection started growing, and so it has for the past 10 years. - He stopped.

- Why are you telling me all of this? - Eric asked. He was confused as to why this... maniac, was telling him this. - Why am I telling you this? Eric, are you kidding me? - He said, He looked surprised. - You are really dumber than I thought. - Eric glared at him. - I want you to understand my noble cause Eric. If you don't offer any resistance I will not have to hurt either you or her. Do you want to live a life filled with sadness and death? I offer you a life where you will not have to worry about anything. Nor law, or evil. Isn't that what you want? Don't you want to become part of something bigger Eric? -

- I do want to become part of something bigger... - Eric entered his fight stance and readied his claws. - I want to become part of the story where you fall with you collection! - Alakzam stood there, but started laughing after a while.

- Do you seriously think you will defeat me Eric? You aren't the first one that has challenged me, and you surely won't be the last one. Also, you and your friend are valuable pieces, so I will ignore you said that. - He smiled. - Let me tell you again: Don't offer resistance and become part of something greater than your life! -

Eric picked up a rock. - I said... - He threw it. - NO! - The rock shot to where Alakzam was standing, but he dodged it with grace. - Hmph. No matter then. I will have to take you by force then! - He tensed up. - I gave you a chance and you didn't listen! Now... - He opened his hands, his palms started glowing a bright light blue colour. - SUFFER! -

(I don't know if I can do this in this website, but open a new tab and paste this on the bar : watch?v=_ncXKc66h7U. It's just music, to spice up the experience.)

Eric charged at Alakzam, once he was close to him he threw three slashed to the air, but they missed as alakazam dodged with grace. He backed away and lifted a few rocks with his telekinesis and threw them at Eric. Eric crossed his arms to protect him self from the flying projectiles.

- How do you like telekinesis!? A must for Psychic types! - He said as the barrage of projectiles swarmed the riolu. Eric opened his eyes when the attack stopped, but Alakzam was already there and threw a punch at his stomach, making him move backwards a few inches. Eric managed to stand up right and charged at alakazam. He used Force Palm, which threw the psychic type, crashing into the wall.

It wasn't long though before Eric was suspended in the air by Alakazam's psychic ability. The pokemon calmly stepped out of the cloud of dust, with a few scrathces over his body. Eric tried to move around, trying to make him loose his focus on him. The more he moved, the harder it was for Alakazam to hold him in place. He began to fly up the ceiling where a stalagmite waited, trying to get him impaled. At this point, Eric turned around and looked at the stalagmite. He used Force Palm and the thing blew into pieces.

Rocks were shot around the arena. Many of them hit Eric, as he closest to the source, but some of them managed to get to Alakzam, who finally lost grip of Eric. He fell to the ground and landed on his feet. Alakazam tried to focus again, but he was Eric charge at him and jumping in the air. Once his head was in the same level as Alañazam's, he used Zen Headbut.

His head crashed with Alakzam's and was thrown a few feet into the air. But Eric didn't stop there. Once he stepped on the ground he charged at Alakazam, still in the air and performed a Double Kick, launching the pokemon faster into a rock. The rock was completely destroyed as Alakazam went right through it, landing on the water behind. Alakazam rose from the ground, he was clearly hurt by Eric's attack, but he still had a lot of fight in him.

- Ha... You are good... Ihaven't had a fight like this since the longest time... Question is... - His hands started glowing pink, as he threw his hands back and fired a Psybeam Eric's way. Eric jumped out of the way and the attack destroyed a rock behind him, completely missing. - Can you keep up?! - And the battle continued.

This time around, Alakazam was using more of his psychic abilities, as he tried to hit Eric with a Psybeam once more. Eric dodged it and slashed away at the pokemon. He threw slashed in all directions, but alakazam didn't even flinch as he managed to block all of them. Some hit him though, which left some marks on his skin. Eric decided to finish with a Force Palm, but Alakzam put up a shield which stopped the attack and threw Eric back.

Alakazam used this to his advanatge and threw a Psychic attack. The force of the move hit Eric which dragged him across the floor. Eirc rose up from the ground, Alakazam approaching him. Eric tried to charge into Alakazam, but he fell to his knees as his head started to hurt. He put his paws up his ears, which were ringing. He looked at Alakazam, who was extending one of his hands. He charged up a Psybeam and released it right on Eric's face.

The attack hit Eric head on, launching him into the wall. The brutal attack left Eric half conscious, as he fell to the floor. Alakzam started to laugh. - I told you! It was futile! Your attacks can barely damage me! - He continued to laugh, his insanity showing up. - Now, as I told you, i'll take you and your friend to where you belong! - Alakazam leaned down to grab Eric. "Oh that's what you would like..."

Eric stopped faking out and shot up from the ground, knocking alakazam away. - What the... - Was the only thing he could ssay before Eric ran up at him. He rose his fist. - _**Umbra Pugnus! **_- He shouted.

The attack hit Alakazam straight on, leaving him dazed. - _**Umbra Pugnus! **_- He shouted again, as he threw yet another Shadow punch at him. This one left Alakazam barely conscious. But Eric was not done yet. He lowered his fist and shouted the more yet again, as he performed an upper cut, hitting Alakazam in the jaw and threw up his face.

He stayed like that for a few seconds, looking up. His limp body backed a few steps before he collapsed on the ground. Unconscious.

Eric was breathng heavily. He had won. Alakazam had been to cocky for the last time. He had put an end to him.

**- WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! **- He screamed, raising his arms over his head. - Take that, you collecting bastard! Hope you add that one to your collection of beatings! - He shouted the unconscious pokemon. He calmed down. He walked up to him. "Yep, out cold" He smiled to him self. "We'll turn him in later, but..." He turned to Eevee. - First of all, someone deserves an apology. -

He walked up to the sleeping pokemon and shook her. - Eevee, wake up. Come on! - He kept shaking her, but she wouldn't wake up. He decided to try something else. He climbed on top of her and opened his paw. "Sorry for this..." He slapped her in the face. - **WAAAH! - **She screamed as she awoke, throwing Eric off her. - What the... Where am I? - She looked around and saw the scene in front of her.

The cave was filled with stones and pebbles. A pile of rubble on the other side of room called her attention, as she didn't remember that being there before. But then she noticed something which called her attention. She saw Alakazam, lying on the floor unconscious. - What in the world?! - She shouted. - What happened here?! - Eric sat up, that's when she noticed him. - We fought, I managed to take him down but... - Her eyes started watering. - You see we made quite the mess... - He chuckled. But it wasn't long before he was thrown to the ground again, as Eevee pounced on him.

- **ERIC!** - She hugged him as tight as she could, which left very little room for the riolu to breath. - H- Hey! - Was only he could say, before Eevee broke to tears. Eric couldn't anything but hug her back. They were in kind of an awkward position, as Eevee was on top of him, hugging him tightly. She climbed off him, eyes still filled with tears. - Eric... I... I'm so... sorry this happened... It was all my fault! -

Tears started to fall on the sand under her. Eric looked at her. "Is she... blaming her self?" Eric couldn't help but hug the pokemon back. - Don't apologize... It was my fault all of this happened... I shouldn't have acted like that... I'm sorry all of this happened... - They stood there for a few minutes, Eric trying to calm down Eevee. After she did, they began to talk about what had happened when they separated.

Eevee told him that she had gone down to the beach when she was captured by Alakazam. - How did you find me though? - Eric then told her that he had found her hwen he had a dream that all of that happened. He told her that once he tocuhed the ribbon she left, he saw everything. He then remembered. - Oh snap I forgot! - He pulled out his treasure bag and opened it. After searching in it for a few seconds, he pulled out sid ribbon.

- It helped me a lot you know. Here let me fix it for you. - Eric stood on his feet and tried to tie the ribbon on Eevee's head. "He's so... caring... I... Don't know what to say..." She thought. When he finished, he sat down again. "She looks... beautiful..." He looked at her. She was sitting there, staring at him, with those big eyes, her brown fur and that ribbon of hers... "Why am I thinking of her like this? What's wrong with me?"

- Eric... I... - Eevee was blushing under her fur. She was clearly grateful to him. - Thank you for... rescuing me... - Eric gave her a warm smile. - Hey, that's what friends are for, right? - Eevee smiled. - Yeah... Friends... - She felt like she was about to boil. "What's wrong with me?" They stood there for a few seconds, staring at each other. She then noticed how she had stareted to lean to Eric, and... he was doing the same thing. Soon, their heads were going to meet...

Suddenly though, something moved in the corner of her eye that called her attention.

And then they heard the scream.

Alakazam charged at the duo. They clearly weren't prepared for him, as he managed to grab the brown furred one and threw her to the wall. - Eevee! - Eric screamed, as he tried to rush for her. Before he could move, Alakzam grabbed him by the neck. Alakazam was panting heavily, a feeling of anger and revenge clouding his mind.

Eric tried to break free, but it was futile. Alakazam started delivering blows to Eric's face and stomach. Each one of them impacting harder than the last one. Eevee rose from the ground and saw the scene in front of her. - **LEAVE HIM ALONE!** - She shouted and charged against Alakazam. He didn't have to distract him self as he literally kicked the pokemon off the ground, launching her into the air and landing flat on her face on the sand. He held Eric with one ofhis hands before he grabbed the evolution pokemon by her kneck and threw here against the wall. After that he kept punching Eric.

Everything froze. Eric saw how she got kicked and launched into the air brutally. And then, slowly, descending onto the ground. Once she met the floor, he grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. The punches made the image of her on the ground come back. They didn't hurt anymore. They just reminded him of what had happened. Then Eric fell limp. Alakazam stopped punching him, doubting fora second, but he threw yet another punch at the pokemon.

Eric suddenly reacted and grabbed his fist with his right paw, and his left hind with his left paw and started to clench down his arms with all his strengh. Alakazam could feel how his bones began to be crushed by the sheer amount of force Eric was applying, and had to let go.

He fell to his knees, the bones in his right hand and his left hand completely smashed. Not long before that though, Eric grabbed his face, and made him look straight into his eyes.

Eric's eyes were now glowing purple, instead of the usual bright red. And reflecting on them, was the face of terror and pain alakazam was showing. Eric was no longer himself, something had taken over.

_**- Tantibus.**_ - He said. And everything went silent...

* * *

But nothing happened.

Alakazam suddenly felt renewed. His bones didn't hurt anymore. He left stronger than ever. He gragged Eric by his neck and threw him a few meters away, into the sand. He approached him.

**- YOU WILL REGRET THE DAY YOU EVER TRIED TO DEFY ME ERIC. THIS HAS BEEN YOUR LAST MISTAKE IN YOUR SHORT LIFE...** - He shouted. He piecked a rock from the water and rose it above Eric's head. - **NOW DIE!** - He said. He brought down the stone upon Eric's head...

A beautiful splattering sound was heard as Eric's head was squashed right under the rock. Blood spewing unto Alakazam's skin. He then brought up the stone again, and lowered it again. Each time more blood splattering everywhere. And again... And again... And again...

He finally arrived at his base. - Finally, now I can add my new pieces... - He smiled as he looked at the bags he was dragging across the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind them. He was at the peak of Mt. Bristle. He approached the small hole on the wall, he introduced his hand in it and pulled the lever located inside the small tunnel using his kinetic force. The walls separated as a new path was revealed. - Excellent... -

He entered the tunnel and closed the walls behind him. He walked in the darkness for a few seconds, before he approached some stairs. He walked down them and arrived at his destination. - Home, sweet home... - He said.

His collection was a lot quieter than usual. They weren't whimpering or anything. It was all silence.

It didn't bother him though. He walked to a big stone table located at the center of the room and put the bags there. He then walked away to another room, where there was a pile of hay. He laid on it and went to sleep. Just as if nothing had happened.

He woke up at night. After he heard a metallic sound coming from the main room. "I swear if someone broke out again..." He walked to the room, but there was no light in it. Only a torch was lit and it showed the empty table. With blood on it.

"Where did the bags go?"He thought. Alakazam was surprised, he approached the table. Not a single trace of those bags. "What the hell? Someone must have broken out and taken them." He looked around, suddenly, a new torch lit up. This one was next to a cell, which had the door open, inside of it, two brown bags wehre sitting on the floor. "Ahhh. There they are."

He walked to the door and entered the cell. He walked to the end of it and picked up the bags. He turned around as just as he was about to leave...

He noticed the bags were too light.

He froze. He dropped the sacks on the floor and looked inside. He found dried blood, and some holes, but nothing else.

No traces of the bodies.

"What the hell?! Where did those bodies go?!" He turned to the door, but tehn saw something that horrified him.

On the doorway, stood a pokemon, it was standing on four legs, it had brown fur, but some blood stains could be easily distinguished. The pokemon had something blue shining on it's head. He couldn't see the face of the pokemon, but he already knew who it was.

_- No... _- He whispered, very softly. Behind the pokemon, stood another one, standing on two legs, it's fur was blue with some black spots on it. Just as Eevee, it had blood stains all over him. - No... -

Tears started to appear on Alakazam's face. The two pokemon entered the cell. - NO... - The door closed behind them. - **NO... **- The pokemown started approaching him, the light of the otrch showing their horrid dead faces. - **NO! -**

And then, the torch died.

* * *

Eevee opened her eyes, Alakazam had hit her very hard. She started to lift her self from the back of her head hurt a lot, and she felt something wet on it.

And then she heard the scream.

She looked forward to see alakazam with his hands on his head. Screaming. His face was one of pure terror, tears on his face. His eyes were bloodshot open. He was spinning around running, trying to get away of something that didn't exist.

He started screaming louder. He knelt down before screaming one more time and lifting his face upward, looking at the ceiling. His screams suddenly, died down. His arms fell to his sides, limb, as he dropped to the floor, his mouth and eyes wide open., looking straight at the other side of the room.

She followed his eyes. And she was Eric on the floor with his eyes closed, unconscious.

**- ERIC! -** She shouted, as she ran to the unconscious body of her friend. Just as she appraoched him though, she heard someone shout at the other end of the cave. But she couldn't listen to them. She was more worried about her friend. She felt some hands grabbing her, trying to pull her away from him. Everything was moving slowly, as she saw pokemon approaching Eric.

The arms let her go. She turned around and saw a familiar face.

- L... Loudred? - She was shaking like a leaf, and she sat up her tail in front of her. He moved his lips. - Are you OK? What happened?! - But his voice sounded distant, like it was far away. She felt her eyes slowly closing, as she fell unconscious.

**Congratulations. You have made it through one of the most disturbing things I've ever come up with! I tried to keep it down as low as possible, but it could still be too explicit, so I may have to edit it out. You guys tell me I have no idea. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Say if you liked the bit with the music or not, I really want to know any tips on that matter, because I want to put more songs into the story.**


	10. Chapter 9 - Wild West

**This chapter's coming up a big sooner because of the cliffhanger on last chapter. This and chapter 8 were one chapter at the beginning, but I decided to divide them because... 10000 word long chapters suck. To both write and they are really tiring to read. Also I didn't know what better title to put to this chapter, so I just went with...**

**Chapter 9 – Wild West **

Eric was looking at the scene in front of him: Alakazam was in his bed. Sleeping. He didn't have any remorse after what he had done. Eric clenched his fist, anger building up on him. "He will pay..." He was floating on the air, next to Alakazam's bed. He felt like... He wasn't there. When he clenched his fist, he didn't feel the skin rubbing against his paws, or the pressure he was applying to it. It felt... weird.

Another weird thing that happened though, was that when he did clench his fist the psychic pokemon started to have a hard time breathing. Once he opened his fist though, he went back to normal. Eric stared at his paw, confused. When he looked at the back of it though, he saw something that made his heart skip a beat.

The star on the back of his hand was glowing purple. Some kind of cracks appearing near the star on his fur, it looked like his hand was about to... break. Also, he felt like some weird energy was coming off said marking. He stared at the bags, outside the room where Alakazam was sleeping at. He knew what was inside, and he didn't like a single bit of it.

He floated to where the table was and tried to grab the bags and throw them, but his hands went right through the leather bag. "Yep, I'm definitely a ghost now... If that's the case... Maybe I can make this guy have a bad time by..." He looked at the bags. He came up with a sickening idea, that might just work.

He tried to grab the bags again, but to no avail. He stared at his hands, going through the bags. He backed away. "I'm not grabbing these any time soon..." He needed a way to move the bags around, if only what were inside of them could walk...

The bags moved. Something inside of them was trying to get out. Eric stared at the bags, completely shocked and horrified. "What the fuck?!" He thought. The bags were trying to move, dragging across the table. "No! Stop moving!" The bags stopped their struggling. He stared at them. The bags were doing what he wanted them to do. Was it a coincidence? No, it had already happened twice... "Break out of the bags!"

One of the bags started moving. Suddenly, sharp claws appeared on the surface, and ripped the leather. Soon enough, a figure emerged from the bag. Eric looked at it for a second, and felt like he was about to puke. He turned his head away. While he heard the... thing, ripping the other bag. The second abomination probably coming out.

"Alright... Time to give this fucker the scare of his life..." He didn't even want to look at the creatures, as he commanded them to grab the bags and put them in a cell that he opened by, yet again, commanding it to. It felt like he was in complete control of everything. Soon though, everything was set up: The bags where in the other end of the cell, the door was opened, and the... "Things" were standing in the shadows, near the door. A torch inside of the cell lit up the scene.

"Now I just need the bastard to wake up..." He heard a loud noise coming from the left side of the opened cell door, where the creature with his shape was standing. It had hit the door against the wall, producing a loud noise. "Clever... Thing..." Alakazam rose from his bed and walked straight into the cell after he noticed the bags were there. The scenes that followed could be resumed in a large amount of screams and Alakazam started screaming, scared out of his mind, as the creatures entered the cell and the light of the torch died.

Everything was now in complete darkness, as Eric couldn't see anything but black. Alakazam's screams could be heard around him. At first, he was disturbed by them, but the longer he listened to them, the more he wanted them to last. And in the middle of the darkness, a wicked smile appeared on Eric's face.

* * *

Eevee was sitting next to Eric's unconscious body. They were back at the guild, in their room. Chimecho had come to check him, and she said that he was only sleeping. He had to be tired after the long fight, so he probably fainted after Alakazam went...

- I can't comprehend what happened back there. Those screams... He was in pain. Something, someone, was killing him. But... there was nothing there... He was just... Running and screaming... It was horrible... - Eevee had said before, when she had woken up. Everyone had left her alone in the bedroom. They were probably discussing with officer Magnezone about the detention of the criminal. But she couldn't care less about that. Her thoughts were focused on the sleeping riolu in front of her.

Someone knocked on the door. - Come in... - She said. The door opened and Mick and Milly walked inside. Once they closed the door, Mick walked to where Eric was lying. Milly sat next to Eevee. - How is he? - She asked. Eevee took a second to answer. - Chimecho said that he was just sleeping. But... -

She sniffed. - Why does this keep happening? This is the second time I've been like this... First Aipom, and now this... How long is it going to take for one of us to get gravely wounded? Or something worse?! - Eevee's eyes were filled with tears. - I wonder... If I did right to become an explorer... - Milly looked at her shocked. - Eevee! - Eevee turned to her, her eyes watering. - But it's true! Nobody ever told me exploring hurt... so much... - Mick was staring at her.

- You haven't really had a stroll on the park anyways. You guys jumped right into two very strong outlaws. It's only normal this happened. You can't always hope you go to a mission and have everything go your way. If you ever have a plan for something, it's most likely that something is going to destroy that plan, whether you like it or not. You can't control things that are out of your reach. - He said coldly.

Eevee looked at him. - Also, you need to be dumb to jump into a fight like that alone... - Milly looked at her, horrified. - Mick! How can you say that?! Eric here almost died to save her, and now you go ahead and say he's an idiot? - Mick looked at his friend. - Well, it was either that or... - He looked at Eevee who had now gone back to watch Eric. - He had a good reason to not involve us in it... -

Milly sat there. "A good reason?" She looked at Eevee. "Wait, could it be that..." Eric suddenly began to cough, he started to have a hard time to breath. Time seemed to slow down as Eevee was the first one to react. She jumped at Eric and tried to wake him up. - Eric! Eric, please wake up! - Mick and Milly grabbed her a pulled her off Eric. She tried to fight, but her friends had a tight grip on her forelegs, and they didn't let her go.

* * *

Eric brought his paws to the invisible hand that was trying to choke him. He could feel it there, gripping around his neck, trying to get the life out of him. He was trying as hard as he could to get himself free from it's grip. "Let go! I order you!" But the hand didn't let go in the slightest. He could feel himself loosing strength. He only had once choice, he grabbed the arm as hard as he could as moved his head backwards.

He launched his head forwards, hitting something else in the process. The grip on his neck seemed loosen up a bit. He repeated the action, this time, a grunt coming from the darkness in front of him. Eric could feel his eyes closing. He charged forward again and head butted the attacker, who finally let go of his neck. Without wasting any time, he lunged forward blindly, trying to at least knock his enemy over. His body impacted with something, earning a shout of pain from the attacker. He then heard something fall to the floor. Eric didn't waste any time and ran to the opposite direction.

He hadn't barely run a few feet before he heard the invisible threat coming after him. He kept running, scared to even face the enemy. He knew what it was, and it disturbed him to no end. The paws that had been grabbing his throat were none other that his own. The creature that had it's shape had tried to kill him. _He had tried to kill himself_. He then heard the steps of his copy approaching. He knew he didn't have much time left until it caught him.

- Eric! Eric, please wake up! - He heard these words. "Eevee?" A light started shining in front of him. He kept running to the light, but then he noticed that the creature behind him was catching up to him. He could literally feel it breathing on his back. He just a few steps away from the light, he could finally see his own self. He was about to reach the light...

When a hand grabbed left arm. He turned around to face the creature. But he wasn't expecting what he saw.

Instead to seeing himself trying to kill him, he saw another shape. This one much different, and it didn't look like a pokemon. It had spiky hair, it's eyes glowing a bright red and he was leaving some kind of trail of mist behind him. Eric didn't even have to think about what to do. He threw back his right fist and punched the human, right on it's face. The human fell back as he let out a cry of rage as he disintegrated. A blinding light enveloping Eric.

* * *

Eric slowly opened his eyes, and saw the scene in front of him. Eevee was being pinned down by Mick and Milly, who were trying to stop her from pouncing on him. - Eevee calm down! You are only going to make it worse! - Milly shouted. Eevee desperately trying to break free. - Eric slowly sat on the bed, scratching the back of his head. - What the hell is going on here?! - He asked. Everyone turned to look at him. For a seconds they just stood there, completely frozen.

- Well? - He asked, clearly confused as to his friends behaviour. After that, everything happened so fast: Eevee broke free from Mick and Milly's grasp and jumped on Eric, tightly hugging him close. Mick and Milly just stood there, looking at them, both shocked and confused.

- Eric! - Eevee screamed. Tears on her face, crying. She was so glad that his friend was safe.

* * *

- And that's all that happened. After that I just woke up here and Eevee decided to jump on me, hugging me like a bear. - Everyone couldn't help but chuckle at the last bit. They were all having dinner at the mess hall. That night, there were some extra berries and apples on the plates. - Still though, I can't help but feel bad about what happened. I'm sorry for doing the stupid mistake of not telling everyone of my intentions. -

He bowed his head, lowering it to almost touching the table. - You don't have to worry Eric! It should be alright now! - Chimecho said. Eric rose his head. - Really? - He said. - Hey! Yeah Eric! You saved Eevee, that's all that matters! Hey! - Corpish said. - And from what you told us, we should be able to find Alakazam's secret hideout in Mt. Bristle! - Chatot said. He was in an exceptionally good mood, but it wasn't anything weird. After all, if Eric was right, they had just saved more than 200 pokemon that day.

- Ohmygosh, can you believe it?! More than 200 pokemon locked up in cells! It must be horrible! - Sunflora shouted. Clearly excited that they could save so many lives. - Yep! And it's all thanks to Eric who managed to capture Alakazam! Now that his spree of missing pokemon has ended, we can finally sit back and relax! - Exclaimed Wigglytuff. He was as cheerful as always. Everyone just kept on talking about Eric and Eevee and pokemon and whatelse.

But Eric wasn't listening to them. He was more worried about what had happened that day, after he had woken up...

* * *

**Five hours earlier...**

- Holy snap Eric! - Loudred shouted, as he saw Eric and Eevee walk into treasure town, soon followed by Mick and Milly. Everyone turned around to look at him. Faces of relief and happiness appeared on the guildmember's faces. There also a lot of people in the plaza who weren't from the guild, some cheering him, but others looked like they had seen a ghost. Some of them looked scared of him. "What's wrong? Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

He soon knew. - Hey you! Bzzzz! - Someone called out to Eric, who turned around to see a weird flying pokemon that had magnet's on it's hands. "A magnezone? What is he doing here?" - Ah... Officer Magnezone! Long time, no see! - Mick said. - Oh? Mick is that you? What are you guys doing around here? - Magnezone was glad to see some old faces, but he quickly went back to being his usual self. - But that's beside the point! You there! - He was looking straight at Eric and Eevee. -Us? Yeah, what is it? -

- Are you Team Pokepals? - Eric nodded. - And I suppose you're Eric? - Eric nodded again. - Yes, and this is Eevee, she's my best friend. - Magnezone nodded. - Aight then, nice to meet you too... - Magnezone snapped back to reality yet again. - But that's also beside the point! You two are the ones who caught Alakazam, yes? - Eevee nodded. - Well it was Eric who did most of the job, I was unconscious most of the time... - She was cut short as yet another pokemon came to view. - Get out of the bloody way you pile of scrap! - The new pokemon shouted at Magnezone. - Yes, sheriff. -

"What the..." The new pokemon was a Metagross. He had a different colour than in the book though. This one was a silver coloured Metagross. "Oh wow. It's a shiny Metagross then?" - You are Eric the Riolu I suppose? - He asked. Eric nodded. The Metagross tried to look as intimidating as it could, staring down at both Eric and Eevee, trying to impose that he was more important to them. Eevee was a little bit frightened, but Eric didn't even bother about the Metagross. He was more bothered about the number of pokemon who were backing away from him. "Who the hell is this guy?"

- Um... And you are? - Everyone gasped. He looked around. "What?! I only asked his name!" He looked at the Metagross. - I am Sheriff Metagross, commander of the police here at Treasure Town and deputy of the Oficial Pokemon Police Federation in this region. For shorts, I am the number one police authority around here. Got it? - Eric nodded. "Wow, this guy looks like he knows who he is and what he's doing..." - Eric the Riolu, you have broken Rule 14 of the Exploration Team Federation and as such, you have been condemned to public services for 2 weeks. -

Everyone went silent. "Wat" - What? - He asked. He could feel tension rising into the air. Metagross stared at him, daggers in his eyes. "Oh boy..." - Rule 14 is the promise that said Exploration Team compromises to not hurt or damage permanently either physically or psychologically any outlaw that the team may come across. You haven't broken this rule not only once, but twice. This is a serious offence to the Exploration Team Federation, as such... - "Oh boy, so he's talking about that... Wait, TWICE?!"

- Whoa, whoa whoa whoa! Did you say that I broke the same rule twice?! - Eric interrupted Metagross. The pokemon glared at him. - Yes, you have permanently damaged 2 outlaws. One of the being Aipom the Outruner, and the other Alakazam the Collector. You managed to break Aipom's leg bones which will never regenerate and Alakazam has been reported to be in a permanent state of coma because of your psychological attack. -

Eric stared blankly at him. - I did WHAT to Alakazam?! - "What the hell is this guy talking about?! Wait, could he mean..." He then remembered the nightmare he had. "Ooooooooooh... fuck" - Look, there has to be an explanation. I know I have hit Aipom way too hard but... I can't seriously Psichologically attack Alakazam now can I? I'm a fighting type fro crying out loud! - Metagross smirked. - A fighting type who can use Shadow Punch. Yeah, that's pretty normal of you. -

Eric froze. - How do you know that? - Metagross just shrugged.(Or what Eric considered a shrug) – I have my ways. You have your ways or hurting pokemon, and I have my ways of getting information, and I think it's better for both of us if we don't know each other methods, hmmmm? - "This guy's seriously ticking me off, he's talking to me like I'm a pile of trash!" - Could you please talk to me in a good manner please?! - Metagross then laughed. It wasn't a forced laugh though, something it Eric's statement was funny to him. - Me? Talk to an outlaw in a good manner? Please! -

- Did you just call me an outlaw!? - Eric shouted. Everyone stared at him. - Did he just shout at him? I think he did... Yeah he totally did... wow this guys is boned... Does he even have brains in that tiny skull of his?... I like that scarf... - The tumult of pokemon started whispering around them, and the whispering soon turning into talking. Metagross lifted one of his legs and stomped it on the ground, shaking the earth around him. Eric almost fell back as the force seemed to equal the one of an earthquake.

"Holy shit! What does this guy eat?!" - Hmph. In all honesty, you are lucky I am not putting you in a jail cell so you can rot for years to come. Somehow, the request for putting you in the "Wanted outlaw" spot didn't go through many of the pokemon in the federation. You have some good friends in there... But let me tell you. - Metagross lowered his head to Eric's level, staring at him intensely. - You were lucky this time, but if I ever catch you doing anything else out of place, I'll have you and your girlfriend there rot in prison. -

Mick couldn't help but jump in. - What did she do that has anything to with this? - Metagross looked at him, and was shocked to find the cat's face, but this shocked impression only lasted for about a second, before his face went back to normal. - She's with him in this. She goes wherever he goes, and it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if we ever caught her doing something nasty. - He then turned to Eevee, who was now shivering like a leaf. - I've seen enough pokemon like you to know your kind. - Eevee then tried to hide herself behind her tail, to stop looking at the Metagross' eyes.

- I've told you everything I had to. If I ever see you again, I'll make sure yougo straight to where you belong Eric. Until then... - Metagross turned around and walked away. Once he was out of sight, everyone seemed to relax. A LOT. - Well... Shit. - Eric said. - Who the hell was that? - He asked Magnezone. He turned to him. - That was Sheriff Metagross. He's been in the pokemon police for 10 years straight! He has always had his suspicions about future outlaws... And he was always right. -

Eriic felt his face loose all colour. - F... fu... future outlaws?! And you said he was always... - Magnezone finished foner or later. He's implacable. - Eric stood there for a few seconds. "Me? An outlaw?" Eric began to shver. Mick came close to him and put a paw on his shoulder. - Eric, don't get nervous, that guy's just a morron, that's who it is. -

After a few minutes, Eric calmed down. - Alright. In all seriousness now. What the hell happened while I was out? -

* * *

**Present**

"After that, they told me what happened after I didn't show up and Drenched Bluff: When they didn't see me appear, they began to worry if I was safe or not, so they decided to go back to Treasure Town. While they searching, they started hearing screaming coming from the Beach Cave. They went down to investigate and... Well, I think everyone knows what they found there. Inmediately, they called officer magnezoe, who arrested Alakazam on the spot. They then took me and Eevee back to the guild, unconscious. It's been just one day since all of this happened."

"Now though, I'm worried about Metagross' warning. Did I really damage them so much? I mean, Aipom will be able to walk again. But... Alakazam... He went to coma. And, from what they had told me, that's just as good as being dead. Now... I am even scared to scratch someone else. Am I really that dangerous?" Eric remembered Metagross' attitude against him. "That pokemon though... He's quite the character. He just treats everyone like piles of trash, and you can't help but to shiver when you look at him. At least now in my case..."

"What worries me the most though. Is what Magnezone told me: Apparently, Metagross can tell when someone will become an outlaw in the future. He seemed to be dead sure that me and Eevee were going to be scum in the future, but I can't think that he could be any more wrong. He probably just a god damn mother..."

- Eric what are you writing there? - Eevee asked. They were now in their bedroom. Eric suddenly closed the book. - Ummmm... I'm just keeping a record of everything that's been happening lately. You never know when I could forget everything again, so I might as well just write it down. - Eevee tilted her head. - Like a diary then? - Eric sighed. "Yes, now that I think about it exactly like a god damn diary" - No, it's just an adventure log, nothing else. - He his the book under his bed. - Anyways, good night. -

Eevee chuckled. - Good night... - She curled around her self and went to sleep.

…

- Eric are you still awake? - She asked. Eric opened his eyes, and stopped faking out. - Yeah, I can't get any sleep too. - Eevee sat on her bed. - I'm just too excited about tomorrow. What do you think we will find at Alakazam's hideout? - Eric sighed. "Whatever it is, it won't be a pretty sight." - I dunno, anything. It the home of an insane pokemon, so we should expect anything at this point. - Eevee shurgged. - Yeah, I guess so... -

They both kept silent for a bit. - You know... I still want to say I'm sorry... for what happened the other day... I shouldn't have shouted that... I made you a promise and... I just went ahead and broke it. - Eric smiled, he wasn't amused though. - Am I not the best friend? - He said, ironically. Eevee stared at him. - Well... Yeah, I think you are. I mean, I don't think any kind of friend would go on ahead and do what you did to save me. I'm lad to be your friend Eric. - She said.

Eric looked at her, surprised. He just shook his head. - What? - She asked. -Never mind... I was going to say that I can't understand you. I can't understand how you can forget such a despicable pokemon like me for what I've done... - Eevee smiled. - You areen't that much of a despicable pokemon you know... - She said. Her eyes looking at the riolu, sitting on his bed. - Thanks... -

They sat there for a few more seconds.- Hey. I want to ask you something. - Eric looked at her. - Yes? - She pointed at his right paw. - What do you think of that? - He loked at the mark. - Oh. I don't know. I think it appeared when we left that cave... Speaking of which. - He looked at her. - We haven't had much time to talk about that. Should we re cap on what we remember first? - She nodded.

- Ok. If I remember correctly... I had a dream where we went to a cave. After we woke up, we went so said cave. Inside there, we were chasen by Aipom... - He was cut short. - Aipom? No, it was my... - She decided to not tell Eric about that, but he had lready heard enough. - Your what? - Eevee couldn't help it. - My father. It was him that was chasing us. - Eric looked at her. - Are you sure? Like, a hundred percent sure? - Eevee looked at him, serious. - I'm two hundred percent sure if that's want you want to hear. -

- Alright... - He said. - You said it was some kind of illusion though. How did you know? - Eevee tried to remember. - It was what he said. He seemed to know you for some reason, so that gave it away. - Eevee was shivering, remembering the horrifying scene that they lived in that tunnel. - Alright then, no more questions about that. Let's move on, ok? - Eric had noticed how she was getting a little bit nervous. She just nodded.

- After that, we went into a weird open room, and when I decided to stand up on that kind of pillar, the walls lit up, and some kind of pictures showed up. You seemed to know a lot about those. - Eevee frowned. - I... Yeah I don know but... I don't remember much, can we talk about it tomorrow? I'm getting kind of sleepy. - Eric looked at her. "She's hiding something, i'm not letting her go now, I need to push a little bit more."

- Wait, let's finish with it this night though. After that, we went blind and then we woke up here the next morning. Do you remember ever coming back by foot? - Eevee shook her head. - No. Before I saw your paw I thought it had all just been a dream. But when I saw it... - Eric nodded. That was all but... "There's still something odd... Something that just doesn't feel right..." - Well, there's something I forgot to say. Right after all of this happened, and before we woke up here, I heard the words "Umbra Pugnus". - Eevee looked surprised. - Wasn't that shadow punch? - He nodded. - Yeah, apparently I got it from there. - Eevee looked distracted. - Eevee, did you by any chance... -

Someone knocked on the door. - Can you please shut up. We are trying to sleep here! - Loudred shouted from the outside. "What? We were whispering more than half of the time! What the hell Loudred!" Eric groaned. - Alright then, we'll leave this for tomowwor, after we come back from the hideout. Goodnight Eevee – He said as he laid on the bed.

- No, not Eevee. Call me Elly. - She said. Eric shot up and stared at her. - What?! - He shouted. Loudred banged on the door again. - Shut up! - Eevee chuckled. - Remember when you told me about changing my name? Well... I've thought a bit about it, and I remembered Elly. - She whispered, smiling. - Remembered? - Asked Eric, keeping his voice soft. - Yeah. Elly was the name my mother, Skie, gave me. - She said, a nostalgic look on her face. - Why did you tell me your name was Eevee then? - She laid on the bed. - I had tried to change my name, it reminded me too much about my family, but... I've decided to keep it, in memory of my mother. - She yawned. - Anyways, goodnight Eric... - And with that, she closed her eyes, and tried to sleep.

…

The opened suddenly, startling both of them. Loudred rushed in. - For the love of Arceus, will you two please stop talking? I can hear you! - Eric shot from the bed. - We weren't even speaking Loudred! What made you think it was us who were talking? - Loudred stood there. He tried to listen. - Oh... So it wasn't you then. Sorry. Goodnight... - He closed the door. Eric and Elly groaned and went back to sleeping again.

Loudred was walking back to his bedroom. - Well... I can still hear voices... If it wasn't them, then who's talking?! - He talked to himself, while he walked back to the bedroom. "Damn sensitive ears... I could hear people talking from the beach with these... And it would sounds like they are close to me..."

* * *

A pokemon was standing under the moonlight, on the beach. He was looking at the window on the side of the mountain. The window was from the Exploration Team guild atop of the hill. It probably let light into one of the rooms. Soon , he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around.

You called me here. What is it? - The pokemon said. - Well, you see... - The newcomer said. - It turns out our objective has been brought down by someone else... That wasn't from our organization... - The first pokemon raised an eyebrow. - And? Doesn't matter. As long as they don't try to save the bounty, it should be fine. - The pokemon turned around and faced the cliff said again. - I'll let you the task of retrieving the bounty. Do not fail me, or you will suffer the consequences. -

The pokemon who was standing near the steps nodded. - What if that exploration team shows up? - The pokemon who was staring at the window turned around - They probably won't join our cause. Dispose of them if they appear. That's an order. - The other pokemon froze and nodded. - Yes my lord. - With that, he turned around and left.

The other pokemon stood there, looking at the window. He knew someone that he despised was in there, but he couldn't really figure out who it was. He decided to leave that for later. After a few minutes of looking into the darkness of the sky, he turned around, and left the beach.


	11. Chapter 10 - Rock and Roll

**A lot of Latin of this chapter. Don't bother looking it up on google translator, at the end of the chapter I've added the Translation Corner, where you can read what each of the latin words mean. Also, not being really creative with the chapter titles...**

Chapter 10 – Rock and Roll

"Umbra Pillam..."

Eric woke up. Light coming from the window. He slowly opened his eyes and sat on his bed. He looked around and saw Elly lying on her bed, still sleeping. "What time is it?" He looked out the window. The sun was starting to appear in the horizon. "Damn, is it like sunrise or something? Why did I wake up so early?" No one had even come to wake them up either. Eric had woken up by himself, which was weird, since he was a heavy sleeper.

"Today we were supposed to go to Alakazam's hideout..." He laid on his bed, trying to remember what he saw in his... dream... "I saw how he opened the door by using a lever inside that hole, but he used his telekinesis... Then again, maybe one of us can fit in it..." He suddenly heard Elly mumble something. - Umbra... pillam... - Eric froze. "Umbra? Isn't that the Shadow Punch more I can use? How come she knows it?" He then remembered the conversation they had the other night. "Did she..." He looked at the Eevee, peacefully sleeping. "Hide something from me?"

Suddenly a shout filled the guild. **- I OVERSLEEEEEEEEEEPT! - **

Elly opened her eyes, startled. She shot up from the bed. - Wha?! What's happening?! - She looked at her left, to see Eric on the floor, covering his ears. - God damn it Loudred... - He opened his eyes. - Ah, and good morning Elly... -

* * *

- Can we please get on with this!? We should be at Mt. Bristle like half an hour ago! - Chimecho shouted in the morning meeting of the guild. Everyone was in an extremely bad mood that morning. - Ugh... If only Loudred hadn't overslept... - Said Bidoof, still covering his ears with his front paws. He and Corpish had gotten the worst part, since both of them slept with Loudred.

- Well, I'm sorry! I just went to sleep late because I wanted to know where those voices came! - Loudred said, trying to excuse him self. - Voices which, by what you said, no one was making. No one was talking yesterday at night. Well at least, not loud enough to be heard... - Mick had said. He and Milly knew that he wasn't lying, since she would have noticed it.

- Well, let's just forget about the voices and get done with the rehearsal... - Chatot said. He coughed. - Ok pokemon. Listen up! - Eric grumbled. He was awake when he heard the shout. - If only we weren't deaf... - Chatot heard the comment, but he ignored it. - As we agreed on yesterday, today we will assault Alakazam the collector's hideout! From what we know, there could potentially be a lot of pokemon in there. Thanks to Eric's dream, we know more or less what to expect. But we should keep our eyes peeled for any kind of traps, understood?! -

Everyone shouted. - Yes! - Chatot nodded. He looked at Wigglytuff, who was wide awake. He nodded also. - OK then! Everyone together! - "Ugh, come on... Let's just get this over with" Eric thought. He hated that part of the mornings. - One! Don't shirk work! Two! Run away and pay! Three! Smiles go for miles! - Everyone, that including Eric, recited. - Ok pokemon, let's get to it! - Chatot shouted. Everyone nodded and rushed for the stairs out of the guild.

The pokemon calmly watched from the bedroom hallways. "Hmmm... Maybe Petraes' little errand will be harder than it looks... We'll see how this turns out..." Just about Croagunk was about to leave, he sensed that someone was watching them from behind. He turned around and looked at the hallways...

But they were empty. He just shrugged and left. The hallways were dead silent. There was no one standing near the bedrooms.

* * *

Mt. Bristle

- Huh. This mountain isn't as high as I thought! - Said Eric. - Of course. Mt Bristle hasn't really been well known for it's height, but the number of outlaws it is home to. Though, for the last 10 years, those numbers seemed to drop tremendously. - Said Chatot. Eric thought about Alakazam. "I can already guess why..."

They approached the pathway that led up to the peak. - Ok, listen up! - Chatot shouted, as he turned to look at the pokemon. - This place is very well known for being the home of many dangerous pokemon. We should expect powerful enemies inside. Be on your guard! - Everyone nodded. Chatot the turned around and walked into the mountain, soon followed by the rest of the guild.

The group headed up the mountain. The first 10 minutes of walking were relatively calming, not too much was going on. After that though, pokemon started showing up. Nidorinos and Geodudes, between other pokemon, didn't present much of a hazard but a large group of Spinarak though, managed to tangle at least Bidoof, Sunflora and Croagunk in a web. They were soon freed by their friends after they had gotten ridden of the spider menace.

They continued their way up the mountain. Soon though, they started to speed up the process by running up some of the segments. Fifteen minutes later, they were at the middle point. Not a single one of them were exhausted. But they decided to stop a bit, admire the view and such. Mick and Milly walked to the cliff side.

- Hey, for this mountain not being that impressive, this sure is an amazing view. Isn't it? - Mick nodded. - Yeah. It isn't really breathtaking, but it's cool none the less. - Eric and Elly were also looking off the cliff side. - Hey, isn't that where that weird temple was? - She pointed at a rock down that was close to the base of the mountain. Eric looked at where she was pointing. - I don' know, do you think so? - Elly nodded. - Yeah, it's fairly close to Mt. Bristle, so I'd say it is. -

- Well, maybe we could ask? - Said Eric. He looked at Mick and Milly. - Hey guys. Can I ask you something? - The duo turned to look at the Riolu. Elly walked up to him soon. - Do you know something that rock down there? - He pointed at said rock. Mick looked at it. - Ummm, it's a rock? There is nothing special around here as far as I know. - Elly looked at the Meowth. - Are you sure? Because me and Eric went there a couple of days ago and we found some weird temple stuff. -

Milly raised her eyebrow. - Weird temple stuff? Are you sure about that? - Eric nodded. - Yeah, You we aren't lying. There was something weird down there when we came here. - Mick looked at them. - When you came here? You say that you had already been here before? - Elly looked at him. - Ummm, yeah. What about it? - Mick looked at them. - Well, because if you did then it would explain a lot of things. - Milly stared at his companion. - Where are trying to get to? - Eric thought about it. It then struck him. - This is Alakazam's hideout. If by any chance he was an exploration team around here... - Mick finished for him. - He would think they where searching for him. And whenever you left, he would think that you had already discovered him. And probably reporting back a the guild... That explains why he was so interested in killing you. -

Elly gasped. - Then... he just wanted to silence us? - Milly nodded. - From Mick's point of view, it would all make sense. Also, seeing both of you being so united, he probably thought that Eric would try to rescue you when ever you were kidnapped. So when you were both together... - Eric finished. - He could kill two birds with one stone... - Mick nodded. - Exactly. - But Elly was a bit more worried about what Milly had said. - What did you mean by "so united"? -

* * *

- This must be it... Let's try to open this... - A golem was looking at the wall atop of Mt. Bristle. There was a small whole in the bottom of the wall. He couldn't utilize the mechanism in it, so he would to open it by other means. He was about to begin when his he felt a presence in his head.

- Yes master? - He listened t the voice in his head. - Yes I am in front of the objective... - His master told him something that surprised him. - So they are here? Yes, they could be an inconvenient. - He listened for a few minutes, then nodded. - Yes, I will have to do something about that... - The voice in his head spoke again. - Yes, I won't fail you master. - The presence left Petrae's head. He smirked. He kneed down and places his hands on the ground. - _**Terra tua peto, mihi virtutem lucem vincere... **_- The ground started shaking around him, the earth had answered his calling. - _**Petris montium a attollat, cincere hostes nostos! **_-

The ground started shaking violently, rocks raising from the ground and taking the shapes of pokemon. Petrae smiled. - Eliminate the intruders! Do not let them get here! - The rock creatures roared, they rolled into rocks and started sliding down the mountain path. Soon enough, they would meet up with the opposition...

* * *

- Come on! We are getting close to the peak! - Eric said. He had taken the lead of the expedition, as he appeared to move fairly fast around the rocks. Meowth right behind him, then the rest of the guild. Most of them were a bit tired, since it was kind of hard to keep with Mick and Eric's pace. Milly and Elly were in the middle, talking. - Well... I found him passed out on the beach, after that he helped get back something I lost. After that I proposed the idea of making an exploration team. He agreed, since he had nowhere else to go. Thus, our team was funded. What about your Milly? How did you meet Mick? -

Milly frowned. - Ummmm... Well... It's... kind of a long story... Can you wait until we are at the guild? I should be able to tell you the story better when we get there. - Elly looked at her friend. - Ok... - "Why did she react like that? It's like... she's trying to hide something." Meanwhile, at the front of the group. - So, how about you tell me how you met Milly, Mick? - Mick hopped onto a rock and did like he didn't hear his question – Mick? - Mick ignored Eric again. He was remembering the day they met. It was a fairly... Memorable day.

- Ugh, okay then, if you didn't want to talk about it just say it. - Mick nodded. - Got it. - Eric sighed. "Man, sometimes it's hard to talk to his guy. He's either thinking about something else entirely half the time." Eric kept mumbling to himself as they scaled the mountain.

Soon enough, they arrived at a clearing. Mick spoke up. - Alright! We are almost there! We take a little 10 minute break and we get going! - Everyone nodded. Eric and Elly sat on a rock. - So? What were you talking with Milly back there? - She looked at him. - We were talking about how I met you. Then, after we finished I asked her how she met Mick, but... - Eric could imagine what had happened. - She didn't tell you. Same here. I had been talking with Mick about the very same thing. But when I asked him about his past... - He gestured like he was zipping his mouth.

Elly chuckled. - Yeah, same with Milly, she just avoided the topic. They are hiding something from us. - Eric nodded. - Can't blame them, everybody has their secrets. Let's just leave them with theirs, sure one day they'll open up. - He then saw said duo walk up to them. - Speaking of the devil... - He whispered to Elly. Milly opened her mouth to say something...

But she was cut short when the ground started shaking under they feet. - What the...?! - Sid Eric, before he fell over, the earthquake gaining intensity over time. They then heard Loudred shout. - Watch out! - He pointed over their heads. Eric looked at where he was pointing, and saw some large rocks rolling down. - SHIT! MOVE IT! - He shouted. Him and the others got out of the zone where the boulders were about to land on. At least twenty boulders landed on the open area they had been resting.

Soon though, they noticed that the boulders weren't actually rocks. The rocks started changing shapes, soon they rocks had become a large group of Geodudes and Gravellers. They stared at the group for a couple of seconds, before they charged at them. - INCOMING! - Mick shouted.

Then the battle started.( watch?v=4KWH22UZjKk )

Three geodudes charged at Eric and friends. Soon though, two gravellers followed them into the fight. Meanwhile, five Geodudes had surrounded Sunflora, Bidoof, Chimecho and Loudred and a large group of Gravellers jumped the rest of the members. Soon they were all fighting the rock type pokemon. They were extremely resilient, so they seemed to take a lot of punches, or at least from Eric's perspective that was.

Eric grabbed a geodude by it's arm and swung it into the other two, effectively knocking them out. He then used force palm on the remaining one, making it fall unconscious because of the hit. Once he was done with that, he helped the other's fight off the Gravellers. Elly tackled one of them to the ground, and Meowht proceeded to slash the giant boulder pokemon with it's claws. Milly was using her fire attacks on the remaining pokemon, but he didn't seem to get hurt by them too much. Eric came in at the right time and Double Kicked the geodude, launching him backwards. - Thanks... I owe you one. - Said Milly between breaths. - Don't mention it.- He said. Staring at the Graveller, who was raising from the ground, still up for fighting. - Here he comes again! -

Bidoof headbutted into the nearest Geodude. It's head was hard, but Bidoof's was seamingly harder, as he knocked him out cold. Sunflora used Vine Whip on one of the geodudes, wrapping him and makig him unable to move. Chimecho took advantage of this and used Confusion. She shot a psychic beam at the Geodude, confusing him. Sunflora let him go, and as soon as he was free, he charged against her, but the pokemon missed it's attack and instead rammed into the wall, knocking him self out. Loudred and Corpish were fighting the other three geodudes and it looked like they was in a clear disadvantage, but thanks to the other apprentices' help, they fought off the attackers.

Wigglytuff, Chatot, Dugtrio, Digglet and Croagunk dispatched the Gravellers with apparent ease. Chatot used Hyper Voice, and hit all of them with the incredibly loud shout. Croagunk used Fury Swipes on one of them, while Dugtrio and Digglet dug a hole under two of them, making the ground fall and the pokemon with them. Wigglytuff just punched the other two Gravellers and knocked them out cold.

(Stop the music, if you ever used it anyways.)

All the pokemon were unconscious. Everyone was a little bit tired, but ok none the less. - Everyone alright?! - Eric shouted. Everyone answered with a yeah, and Eric let out a sigh of relief, as he sat on the ground. The battle had barely lasted eight minutes, but he was worn out.

But there was no time to rest, as the whole mountain shook yet again. This time though, no more boulders came down. But the trembling was a lot stronger than before. Then, a loud noise came from the top of the mountain, as they heard something crumble. - What was that?! - Elly shouted. Eric rose from the ground, but Mick was already heading up. - Let's go! - Everyone rushed after him.

* * *

A few minutes later, they were at the top of the mountain. At first, they couldn't see anything because of a dense could of smoke that covered the area, but once it cleaned up a bit, showed a fairly shocking scene. At the other side of the clearing were standing the remainders of an immense stone wall. Eric then realized. - Wait! That's where the hideout is! What happened?! - A voice suddenly, acme from the centre of the clearing., which was still covered in the cloud of dust. - I happened. -

Once the dust cleared, another shape appeared. It looked like a boulder, but it had a head, arms and legs. It was a Golem, the Megaton Pokemon. He was looking at the group. - So, you are Team Pokepals eh? - Eric stepped forward. - No, only me and this Eevee. Who are you anyways? - The Golem smirked. - I am Petrae, Lord of Stone. - Eric looked at the pokemon. - That's a weird name. Why are you here anyways? -

Petrae smirked. - For the same reason you are here. To get these pokemon out of here. - Milly shuddered. He felt it in every single one of that pokemon's words. He was lying. - Don't trust him! - She shouted. Everyone looked at her. - He's lying! - Petrae smirked. - Oohhh. This is a treat indeed now. Milly, the pokemon with the eyes of truth that can see through the most complex of lies. You just have to look at a pokemon to instantly know if they are lying or not. You are quite... and interesting pokemon. That is... - The Golem looked straight into her eyes. - If you are one! - Mick froze in place. Milly felt like someone poured a bucked of cold water onto her. - SHUT UP! You don't know anything about her! - Shouted Mick, who jumped in front of Milly.

- Aaahh... Mick. I thought you had died a long time ago... I thought we would never have to deal with you ever again. Turns out we were wrong. I'll have to tell my master about this... - Mick was horrified. He knew him, but he couldn't quite remember from where. - Cut the bullshit! Who are you? How do you know all of this!? - Shouted Eric, who stepped forward. - Oh, we know a lot of things about all of the pokemon in this room... Except for you and your friend there. -

- Now, since you have seen through my lie, I will tell you where I come from and what I am here for: I am the fourth member of Team Uncario. We are the pokemon who have been chosen to get our god: The lord of Darkness, back to life. For our purposes, we require the help of a large group of pokemon. Not too long ago, who posed our eyes on a puny outlaw called The Collector. Apparently, this outlaw captured pokemon so he could keep them! What a fool! Keep a pokemon for yourself and not exploit it's true nature?! It was then we decided to wait until the right time to both strike and get the pokemon, but... - Eric finished for him. - Then we came in... - Petrae applauded. - There you go! Now you get where I am going with this. You did the dirty job for us Eric, and we have to thank you for taking care of such burden. -

"Such a burden?!" - Who are you guys? - Elly asked. Petrae laughed. - Why should I tell you? You are not going to use that information anyways, after all... - He snapped his fingers. - Your days of adventuring... - The earth started rumbling. Then, two hammers came out of the ground and levitated up to Petrae's hands. - END HERE! -

( watch?v=YYzEvbfrIB0 I didn't really have a better track for this one. If I come up with a good one, I'll replace it and edit this message.)

He then charged at them, rolling into a rock and going at a tremendously high speed. He crashed into the group, launching them in all directions.

Petrae unrolled and snapped his fingers. Boulders rolled down the dies, crashing unto the ground and pokemon appearing from them and then running into the guild members, who were still trying to get up from the ground. Eric and the others were the ones that weren't rushed by the minions. - You four... I will deal with you personally! - Petrae shouted and ran at them, raising his hammers over his head. Once he got close to them, he crashed them unto the ground, producing an earthquake which threw all of them up into the air.

Before Eric had time to react, Petrae hit him with his hammer. Eric shouted as he felt sme of his ribs break and then was launched brutally into the wall. Petrae turned around to confront the others, but they had gotten up from the ground sooner than he would have expected and were already attacking him. Milly used Flame Wheel, she enveloped her self on fire and launched forward. This only distracted Petrae, but that was good enough for Mick to charge at him and slash away, his claws slashing his face. Petrae roared and hit Mick with his hammer, knocking him away. Though he managed to land on his feet, he flinched when he felt pain on his right leg, the impact had probably broken something.

Eevee launched into the Golem's feet, effectively knocking him over onto his back. By then, Eric had managed to get up again. Though his said hurt like hell, he still had to keep fighting. He managed to get up to the golem and climbed onto him. He then used Force Palm repeatedly, effectively breaking some of the stone armour type skin he had. Petrea roared in pain. He grabbed Eric and threw him off. He then managed to stand back on his feet. Some of the guild members had finished fighting the rock pokemon and were know charging for the golem. The didn't even get close as Petrea stomped once of his feet on the ground, which acted like a shockwave, knocking everyone back. He then reached out for his hammers, which he had dropped, he grabbed one. Eric noticed what he was trying to do. He rushed for the second one and just before Petrae grabbed the second one, he held it up and deflected the blow that the golem had prepared for him. He then jumped backwards, the hammer still in his hands.

- Why you little...! - He shouted. He didn't have enough time to shout any other words as he was hit with his own hammer right in the face. The impact launched him high into the air. He held the other hammer in his hand tightly. "If he gets the other one I'm done for!" He landed on the floor with a loud noise. He rolled onto his feet again, but he was tired and was panting heavily. He he placed his hands on the floor and looked at his foes.

Eric was staring at him, holding his hammer with both of his hands. Elly was running on the side of the room, trying to get into a better position from where he could attack him. Mick and Milly were both on the ground, obviously tired. The other guildmembers looked like they were ready for a fight too. "It's time to fix that".

_**- JACTUS PETRAM! **_- Petrea shouted. Rocks shot from the ground underneath him and then were launched in the guild members direction."What the...?!" Eric was ready for the attack, and managed to his some while they were airborne. The other members though, were clearly surprised, as they were hit by the rain of stone projectiles. - What he hell kind of a move was that? - Petrea smirked and didn't waste any time. - _**ALABASTRITES!**_ - Petrae roared. The ground beneath Eric began shaking as a giant stalagmite came right out of the ground, trying to impale him. Eric managed to move in time though, and stayed clear of the area where the obelisk came out from. This broke Eric's line of sight with Petrae though, and he used this to get to the stalagmite. He hit it with it's hammer, effectively breaking it into millions of small pieces that shot at Eric.

The fragments were too fast and small and Eric couldn't block them. They hit him continuously. But Petrae didn't waste the opportunity and his him with his hammer, launching him. Eric almost lost consciousness when he hit the wall. He felt weak. He felt pain coming from his sides, where he had been hit twice know. Petrae approached him, slowly. Elly was right behind though, and he didn't know this. "What do I do? If I don't hit him hard enough, then he'll notice me and I'll throw everything overboard!"

"Umbra Pillam..." Her eyes widened. Then she remembered what Eric said told her the other night.

(Stop the music for a bit if you will)

* * *

_Well, there's something I forgot to say. Right after all of this happened, and before we woke up here, I heard the words "Umbra Pugnus" - I looked at him surprised.- Wasn't that Shadow Punch? -He nodded – Yeah, apparently I got it from there. - Eevee then remembered. "Right before I woke up... I heard something too... could it be..." - Eevee did you by any chance... -_

* * *

"Umbra Pillam... Shadow... Shadow what? Shadow... Shadow... Shadow... Pillam?" Petrae was dangerously close to Eric. She couldn't take any more chances. She looked at him. - **Umbra Pillam! - **She shouted the words...

But nothing happened...

Petrae turned around and looked at her. - Oh, I had forgotten you! - He said, he turned aound and ran for her. She was done for now. Petrae ran up to her and raised his hammer. - Sleep tight! - He didn't manage to bring the hammer down though, as he was launched to the side when he was hit by Eric, who was still holding his hammer. The golem groaned as he stood up. - You little bastard...

_**- JACTUS PETRAM! **_- He launched more rocks at the duo. Just when they were about to hit though, Eric stood in the middle, between Eevee and the rocks, blocking some of them with his hammer...

But most of them with his body. He received each of the rocks like he was being hit by a hammer, his body now filled with bruises. The rocks stopped flying and he fell to the ground, too tired to keep going.

- ERIC! - Elly shouted. She crouched next to his friend, who was breathing heavily. Petrae was watching the whole scene. - Ha! The poor fool. He thought he could protect you. What a fool! - The Eevee looked at the rock pokemon, tears on her eyes. She looked mad. She stood up and looked at him. She stood there, completely silent. She then closed her eyes "_**Umbra pillam!**_" She thought to her self. He then felt some kind of pressure on her forehead. Like there was something there. She opened her eyes, to see that her view was completely covered by some kind of purple sphere. - What in the world...? - Petrae didn't have time to finish. - **_Umbra Pillam! _**- She shouted. The purple sphere launched forward and hit the golem in it's face, earning a shout of pain from the pokemon. He was launched forward, and because he wasn't ready for the surprise attack, he lost the grip around his hammer. Eric, who was slowly recovering from the rocks saw this. - Elly... Get the... hammer! - He said. She nodded and rushed for the weapon. She grabbed it with her mouth and ran back to where Eric was. She dropped it next to him. - What now? -

Petrae rose from the ground a little bit dazed from the attack. He searched around for his hammer, and when he didn't find it, he opened his eyes. He looked around until he was Eric and Elly, and both of his hammers next to them. - NOOOOO – Petrae rose form the ground and charged for them. Eric rose from the ground. He grabbed one of the hammers and rose it above his head. He lowered the hammer upon the other one. The hammer impacted with the one lying on the ground. When their heads collided, the world seemed to stop for a second, the sound of the hammer echoing all across the mountain. Suddenly, both of the heads of the hammers started to fracture, and some cracks started showing up on them. A blinding light seemed to come off the cracks. Then the hammers exploded, launching both Eric and Elly backwards. Eric managed to grab the Eevee before they landed on the ground. They rolled for a few feet before stopping.

Elly opened her eyes and Eric let her go, now that hey were kind of safe. She looked at him, all beat up. - Eric... - Suddenly, Petrae started shouting. - NOOOOOOOOOOOOO – They saw him on hisn knees. - NOOOOOOO, IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS. IT CAN'T. I HAD... A MISSION... - They saw how his arms were starting to solidify: He was being turned into a statue. - No! Master... I've... failed you... - He then looked at Eric, who was using Elly to be able to stand on his feet. - You... You! It's all your FAULT! - He pointed at Eric with his stone hands. - You will pay for this! You don't know where you gave gotten yourself into Eric! You will pay! - His body was know made out of stone, the only part left was his head. - CURSE YOUUUUUUUUUU – He shouted, with all his anger as his head turned into stone.

The Megaton Pokemon had fully turned into a stone statue. Everyone in the room was staring at it, horrified at the sudden transformation of the pokemon. The statue then seemed to crack, and s exploded to pieces, shooting everywhere. They didn't hit anyone though. Everyone stood silent. - Is it... over? - Said Eric, who panting and breathing heavily. - Yeah... It is... We did it... - Said Mick, who on the other side of the room. Everyone from the guild was staring where the statue of the golem used to be.

* * *

- It should be down here! Come on we are almost there... - Shouted Eric, who was walking dwon the stairs, Elly at his side. HE was really weak, and sometimes he lost his balance. Only them Loudred, Wigglytuff, Chatot and Milly had gone inside of the cave. The others had stayed outside. Half of them were going to stand there and look out for anyone and the others came back to treasure town to alert Officer Magnezone. - I swear, if I have to see that Metagross again... I'm going to flip out... - Eric groaned, as he walked down the last step. It was really dark.

- Milly... - He didn't even have to finsih, as she used Ember to create a fire which lit up the entire room...

And it revelaed a room filled with cages, and in each one fo these cages, a different type of pokemon. At first, only silence reigned in the room. But when the pokemon noticed who the newcomers were, they went static. The room soon filled with shouts of glee, happiness and screams of joy. The group looked at all of the chaos. Eric then felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to seen Wigglytuff. - You did it. You saved them. -

* * *

- 150, 151, 152... - Officer Magnezone had arrived and was counting how many pokemon were leaving the cave. - I can't believe it Eric... We did it! We saved all of them. - Elly shotued again. She was static. She jumped to hug Eric again , who groaned in pain. - Whoops, sorry. - She said, embarrassed. Eric had bandaged on his sides, since most of his bones had been hit. They hadn't been broken though. - Yep, you did it. You managed to save a lot of pokemon today. - He looked at Magnezone, who was finishing counting the pokemon. - This could make you guys a really famous exploration team! - Eric looked at him. - Really?! - Mick nodded. - Well, yeah, not too famous around the world, but maybe famous enough that pokemon start talking about you. -

Elly's eyes lit up. - Yes! - She hugged Eric tightly. And then she did something which surprised all of them, including herself.

She kissed him.

It was a quick peck on his left cheek, but it was still a kiss. Eric just stared at her, stunned. Mick and Milly had both of their mouth wide open. When Elly noticed what she had done. She covered her face with her tail, trying to hide her blush. - Oh... Sorry... - Eric though, couldn't, and his cheeks were know bright red. He just scratched the back of his head. - Nah, it's ok. - Mick and Milly started laughing at the duo. Elly and Eric soon joined them, and shared a good laugh.

* * *

- MAN! - Eric shouted as he dropped on his bed. - I'm beat up! - Elly soon did the same. - Me too. - They soon closed their eyes and went to sleep. After they had rescued all the pokemmon, officer Magnezone had told them that he would notify the exploration team federation about their achievement. He told them that he would come to the guild tomorrow with news...

Dugtrio was the one that had the job to guard the gate of the guild at night. He always did this so no one could sneak into the guild and steam or attack someone. If a stranger came close, he would warn them off. If they didn't listen though, he would alert everyone in the guild to get him out of the strange out of there.

That was if it were a stranger. The pokemon that came that night though, was no stranger.

**EVERYONE WAKE UP! **- His shout echoed through the guild late at night, waking up everyone. Well, everyone except Eric and Eevee, who needed sleep the most. The rest rushed to the entrance to see who it was that had come that late at night. None of them was preapared for who they saw at the entrance though, not even Wigglytuff.

* * *

- Are you sure? - Asked Chatot, they were in the door of team Pokepals bedroom. - Yes, comlpetly sure. I need to talk with him. It's of great importance. - Said the the tall pokemon who had come that night, he needed to talk with team pokepals. He opened the door and entered the room, then he closed it.

Once inside the bedroom, he saw two pokemon sleeping on their beds, one an Eevee, the one called Elly, the other, a Riolu. "That must be Eric" He walked up to the sleeping Riolu, trying not to disturb the Eevee. He crouched and shook him. Eric started waking up. He opened is eyes to see. - WAAAAAAAAAAH – He shouted, startled, as he saw a complete stranger inside of their bedroom. Elly also woke up, as she jumped from the bed startled. - Who the hell are you?! What are you doing here?! - The pokemon was tall, he was almost three sizes bigger than Eric. And he imposed respect. - Eric the Riolu? - Eric gulped, one of the few times he could ever remember doing so. - My name is Lucario, I am the leader of the Exploration Team Federation, or the ETF, as some like to call it. -

Elly's maw fell to the ground. Eric just looked at him, questionably. - The leader of the... - He then realized. - OH SNAP! So you are the leader of the organization that leads all of the exploration teams? - Lucario nodded. - Indeed. I would be surprised that you don't know me, yet again, I've heard about all of your activities Eric, including your amnesia. - Elly was still amazed, her jaw almost touching the floor. - I've come here since I've been told about your latest job. You saved more than two hundred pokemon today. The whole federation has been really pleased with your achievements such as the apprehension of Aipom and Alakazam. We have also been aware of your mistakes, but we have decided that your successes are far superior than the mistakes and as such, we have ignored them. -

- The recent activities of this team have gone beyond our expectations... And that is not a statement our federation makes lightly. As such, your team will be heavily rewarded for your contribution to the pokemon community and your efforts at keeping the world a safer place. It may not look like it, but your achievements do more of a change than you would think. - Eric and Elly nodded. They were both speechless. - Thanks for your cooperation. We hope to hear more news from this team in the future. Thank you for your time. - With that, Lucario rose and walked to the door, he opened it and left. Leaving Eric and Elly speechless.

* * *

- You are leaving already? - Asked Wigglytuff. - I am afraid so Wigglytuff, I need to head back to HQ before sunrise. They need me there. - He went outside the guild, but it had started raining. Lucario just stared at the rain, before he calmly walked into it, not bothering about his fur getting wet or anything. - Wait! Don't you at least want something to cover yourself?! - Wigglytuff shouted. Though Lucario was already gone. "He will never change will he..." Lightning struck in the distance. "It's going to be a looong night..."

* * *

Elly jumped from her bed again, startled by the lightning. - Ah! - She covered herself with her tail, shivering like a leaf. Eric truned around. - Something wrong? - Elly at first didn't answer, but theN another lightning struck. She jumped yet again, clearly startled. - Elly, are you scared of lightning? - Elly took a second to answer, and when she did, her voice sounded really low. - _Yes... _- Eric sighed. "It's going to be a looong night..." She sat there for a few seconds, before another lightning struck, this time, the thunder was louder than before. She jumped higher than before. Eric decided to do something about it. - Get over here. - Elly looked at him. - Excuse me? - He repeated himself. - Get over here. Push your bed against mine, so you can sleep with me. - Elly was blushing. Hard. It was still night and Eric could see her blush on her face.

Well? - Elly stared at him. - Ummm... Ummmm... - Elly was speechless. "He's asking me to sleep with him? I... I..." - Fine then, I'll do it for you. - He rose from his bed and approached the Eevee. He then grabbed her bed and put them together. - There. Now let's sleep. We need to rest, today was very... - Hew as looking at her face, again. - Tiring. -

He laid on his back and closed his eyes. He waited like that for a few seconds, but then felt Elly laying down next to him. He could feel her so... close to him... He felt how blood rushed to his face. Elly was still blushing and now Eric was too. "Why does it feel so... awkward? He's just a friend, right?" She looked a him, so close to her. He turned his head down when he felt her looking at him. She quickly looked another way. "Right...?"

"Why do I feel like that when I look at her? I feel so... embarrassed... Why? Why does this happen?" He looked down at her, and noticed she was looking at him again. "Those eyes..." He turned his head away. "This already happened... back at the beach cave... Ugh so confusing..." He looked out the window, it wasn't clearing up at all. "I will have to ask Mick about it, maybe he can tell me what the hell is going on..."

She remembered what Milly had said earlier that day. "Both of us being so united? Wait..." She looked at Eric. He was looking at her again. "Do I have a crush on him? No... Could it? But... I need to ask someone about this. Maybe I'll ask Milly..."

Eric opened his mouth to say something. - Well... Goodnight... - Elly listened to his voice. - G... Good... night... - She stuttered. Her voice sounded so... melodious to him. They laid there for a few minutes. Eric was still awake, even though he had gotten most of the was still thinking about what his problem with Elly was. He just wanted to be... closer to her... He then felt something rubbing against his back. He turned around, slowly, just to not wake up Elly, because he knew it was her. He was right, it was Elly, who had gotten closer to him and was know rubbing against him. She felt... Warm... And her fur was soft... She was probably asleep, so he just let her be there. Soon though, Elly got closer to him and they were know back to back. Eric though, was asleep at this point, so he didn't see the sleeping Eevee's face make a smile.

**My favourite chapter to write up to now. It opens up so many mysteries. Who the hell are Team Uncario? What do they want to do? Why did Petrae know Mick and Milly? And who is that misterious pokemon stalking our protagonists? Also, first hint at the romance of the story, which I've tried to build up as much as possible. I think I did a fairly good job at that. Anyways, thanks for teh supprt you guys are showing and I will see you on the next chapter.**

**Translation Corner: __****Terra tua peto, mihi virtutem lucem vincere...**_ means: **Earth listen to my call, I ask you for the power to defeat the light...**_

_**Petris montium a attollat, cincere hostes nostos! **means: **Rocks of the mountain, raise from the ground to defeat our enemies!**_

_****__**Umbra Pillam**__ means: **Shadow Ball**_


End file.
